Tamer Angel of Darkness
by Princess Luka Vocalzal
Summary: AU/Fem!Kazu. Hikaru 'Karu' Shiota is the trio's resident tough girl and bodyguard, suffering from visions and migraines. She's cold and mean to those she doesn't know or wishes harm on her friends and family. When Digimon start appearing for real and don't seem to want to leave her alone, will Karu's discovers there's more to her than she though and her life's in danger, but why?
1. Chapter 1

Me: Hey! Luka here and wlecometo the first chapter of my first fiction! FYI: I don't think I have spell-check, so if my grammer is off on anything, please let me know in your reviews and please, don't flame me! I maybe new, but doesn't mean I don't know what a flame review is! So, in case anyone missed or skipped the summary, this is an AU with genderbender (But the only person being bended is Kazu)...

Kazu: Hey, why am I a girl? *hits in the head with frying pan* OW!

Me: Oh shut up, will you? now, um...where was I?

Takato: The disclaimer?

Kazu: Don't ecourage her! *hits again* OW! Stop that!

Me: Thanks Takato! Take it away Henry!

Henry: Princess Luka vocalzal does not own Digimon or any characters in it.

Me: Well, expect OCs and Fem. Kazu.

Kazu (muttering): Crazy woman...

Me(branishes frying pan threantingly): What was that?

Kazu: Nothing!

Me That's what I thought. Anywho, enjoy and review!

Chapter 1: A Normal Day for Hikaru Shiota...Not Really

The weaher was calm and clear in the city of Shinjuk, Japan. Everyone was going about their ususal daily business, shopping, working or just enoying the day. However, in a local park (If the park has a name, someone let me know), hadany adult been paying attention, they would've notice four fourteen-year-old boys cornering two twelve-year-olds. Littered at their feet were a bunch of green and blue cards with various pictures on them.

These cards belonged to a TV franchiese called Digimon, which became quickly popular among children and most teens. Digimon were digital monsters that resembled just about anything you could imagine and it was quick to become a popular card game of the series became a big hit. So, you can imagine how fourteen-year-old boys could feel about getting beaten by two scrawny twelve-year-old boys.

"You heard us geeks!" The one with red hair snapped, "Hand over the cards or else!"

"T-that was-wasn't part of the deal Dan!" One of the younger boys said, he had short, chestnut brown hair, tanned skin and cherry-red eyes. He wore a blue hooded sweater, brown capice with yellow socks and white and blue shoes. "Deal smeal," A brunette with blue eyes scoffed, "You guys had to have cheated, you couldn't have won!"

"We did no such thing!" The other boy said, having short dark green hair and silver eyeswith glasses and fair skin. He wore a dark grey shirt under a cream-coloured jacket and dark brown shorts with grey socks and black and green shoes. "You calling us lairs, shorty!" The black haired boy snapped, starting to lose his cool as he grabbed the greenette by the collar. "Leave him alone!" The younger brunette cried as he got grabbed by the redhead and the other two started looking through the cards, "Hey, stop that!"

"You're all cowards!" The greenette said glaring, "Try picking on someone who can fight back!"

"Just because you have glasses, doesn't mean I won't punch you!" The black-haired bully growled. "Just wait till Karu gets here!" The brunette boy treatened, trying to be tough, much to their amusements, "She's gonna..." They burst out laughing. "Like we're scared of a little girl!" The brunette bully with green eyes snickered, "She's probably all fraile from playing with dollies!"

"I dunno Sasuke," The other brunette said unsurely, "I heard of her and she's no pushover."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, sure," The brunette, Sasuke, said not convinced. "Hey!" A female voice suddenly yelled, getting their attention.

The voice belonged to a twelve-year-old girl with shoulder-length dark brown hair with slight fringes, tanned skin and greyish-blue eyes with curled lashes. She wore a black muscle shirt with a pair of elbow-long, fingerless, black gloves with blue rings on the wrists and cuffs. She wore a pair of dark blue shorts and black combat boots with blue buckles. She wore a black belt with a dark green pouch for Digimon cards on the left and the other held a black and blue card scanner. She was a bit more developped then most girls her age and had the figure of a runner complete with the aura of a fighter.

"Put. Them. Down," She growled eyes cold like ice. "Karu!" The youngest brunette and the greenette cheered, grinning at the sight of her, while the bullies, minus the green-eyed brunette laughed. " _That's_ your rescue!" The redhead barked in amusement, causing her to glare at them. "Run home and play with your dollys, girly," The ravenette said dismissively, making the two boys gasp in alarm, while the girl stared in blank-anger. "What?" She asked.

"Uh oh, he called her the g-name!" The greenette panicked, covering his eyes. "Are you talking to me?" The girl asked. "Shouldn't have done that..." The brunette boy said nevously as a dark gleam appeared in his friend's eyes. "Are you talking to me?" The girl asked, her voicing raising. "Oh boy," The brunette boy said, covering his own eyes. "Are you talking to _**me?**_ " She yelled angrily. " _Now_ they're in for it," The greenette said. "The name is... _ **HiKARU SHIOTA!**_ " The girl yelled seeing red, before charging at the stunned bullies with an enraged scream.

Without another word, Karu landed a mean right-hook on the ravenette, before hearing the redhead coming at her after pushing her brunette friend to the ground, allowing both boys to hide behind the slides. Spinning around on one leg, Karu landed a sharp kick to the side, before twisting her body around as the green-eyed brunette came from the side moving from leg to the other, landing another kick to the brunette's chest, knocking him back into a pole. With an enraged yell, the ravenette ran at her blindly, making her smirk as she ducked under his swing and punched him repeatedly in the chest and stomach, sending him right into the slides her friends were hiding behind, making them cringe. Seeing the redhead coming at her again from the corner of her eye, Karu slid around him gracefully while grabbing his wrist, twisting his arm around his back making him yell in pain as she swung him around into the brunette bullies.

Smirking to herself, Karu dusted off her hands before calmly walking over to her friends, who were staring at her in admiration. "So, what I miss?" She asked as if she hadn't just beaten four boys almost twice her height into the ground, making the greenette sweat-drop. "If I said once, I'll say it again," He said, shaking his head, "Karu, you really are something else."

"Why thank you Kenta!" Hikaru 'Karu' Shiota grinned, much to his expasteration. "Are you sure you didn't take it a little far?" The brunette asked, looking at the groaning bullies in concern. "Aw, they'll be fine in a few days so long as they don't cross me again," Karu said dismissively, smiling at him, a complete change to how she arrived, "Honestly Takato, you're too nice for your own good." Takato flushed bashfully, making her shake her head before helping them collect their cards and left before the bullies could come to. 'Another day, another fight,' Karu thought absentmindly, used to coming to her friends' aid. It was no secret that Takato and Kenta were two of the best Digimon players in their school, so a lot of high-schoolers came to see if they were all that, though that didn't mean all of the were good-sports and their were a plently of bullies at their school, so she was sort of like their body-guard when she wasn't playing her own matches. 'I wis something new would happen for a change,' She thought with a sigh, little did she know she was going to regret that wish.

In an unknown space, a little white creature with purple markings and a red triangle on its forehead was being chased by a white unicorn with torn black wings wearing a red mask. "Maybe we should talk about this!" The white creature cried, "I'm sure if you give me a chance, we could work it out!" But the horse didn't listen, "I just wanted to play!"

"Okay," The unicorn chuckled, darkly, "Let's play!" The poor white creature whimpered fearfully as it ran, its red triangle giving a soft glow.

Meanwhile, in a dark room within a government felicity, two women in white were up at the control panels as a large red dot on the giant screen started moving towards a greet target symbol. Sitting in a chair, obversing was a man with short, dark blonde hair wearing a suit and black sunglasses, fiddling with a lighter.

"Are you sure you're playing it right?" The white creature asked, before tripping over its own feet, "Aw nuts..." It whimpered the horse approached, only to rammed into by a large black raptor with red markings and a green scale pattern going down its spine. The white creature watched as the two brawled.

Meanwhile, in a hidden alcove in the school yard, Karu was playing against Takato when a shearing pain lit itself in her head, making her grunt in pain and hold her head, dropping her cards, much to Kenta and Takato's alarm. "Karu?" Takato asked in concern. 'Not this again...!' Karu thought in pain, an odd image came to her, seeing the black raptor start to dissolve under the horse, 'W-What is this...?' There was a large explosion followed by a sound that sounded like glass shattering. "Hikaru!" Kenta called in concern as she nearly double-over in pain. "GAME OVER!" The white creature screamed as it was flung into the air by the explosion and gasped to see the raptor had evoled into an armoured one and deleted the horse, and screamed as it disappeared.

Karu gasped as the vision ceased and panted for breath, before noticing she was leaning against the alcove wall, her boys staring at her in concern, tears beginning to swell in Takato's innocent red eyes (lets face it, Takato's too innocent and nice to the darker sides of life). "What?" She asked as she got herself together. "Another migraine, huh?" Kenta asked, though the way he said it made it sound more like a state then a question. Not being able to lie when he gave her that stare, Karu sighed and nodded as she sat up, rubbing her head, she's been getting these awful migraines since she was a toddler and no one was able to figure out why and it made her father crazy protective of her, though he knew how to keep it at the minimum, which she was thankful for. "Are you okay, Karu?" Takato asked worried. "I'm fine baby dragon," She assured, making him give her a watery-smile, baby dragon was a nickname they though up after playing Digimon for such a long time, Takato got it because he favoured dragon types, Kenta perfered water-types and often used birds, giving him the nickname Bluejay and Karu herself used both dark and holy types, naming her Dark Angel.

Meanwhile, the white creature screamed as he was pushed through a portal into the skies of Shinjuku, his ears extending to allow him flight as he was nearly run over by a helicopter (is that even possible?). "Hey!" He complained, but stared after the machine curiously, before looking around at the sight below him and knew he wasn't in the digital world anymore, 'I wonder where I am...maybe this is the human world,' This thought made him brighten a little, 'Maybe I can find the princess here!'

Back with the three friends, Karu had played Unimon, the same Digimon she had seen in her newest vision and it was against Takato's BlackTyrannamon, the other Digimon she had seen and like her vision, Takato used his turn to digivolve it into MetalTyrannamon, winning the game. "Hah, you're history!" Takato cheered shyly. 'I'm starting to think I'm physic,' Karu though absent-mindly, every time she had a vision parts of it came true not long afterwards, she never told any about them though in fear of being called crazy, but that didn't mean they didn't worry her from time-to-time, like that voice she heard. She knew she didn't imagine it, but it wasn't one she recognized so it worried her, even though she tried convincing herself it was nothing important.

"How'd you do that, seriously?" Karu asked sceptically, "Every time someone gets close to beating you, your luck streak kicks in and you pull off an otherwise impossible move that turns things around into your favor." And she wasn't sugar-coating the fact either, Takato, despite being as shy and usually quite as he was, had yet to be beaten at the game because of this weird sense of luck he seemed to have, but on a brighter note, she and Kenta were just happy there was something that brought Takato out of his shell aside from soccer. "What can I say," Takato shrugged as he swipped a card into his yellow card-reader, "I'm that good."

That made the other two share an amused look, before Kenta said, playfully, "I think we created a monster." Karu just shrugged, "Your own fault for introducing him to the game in the first place, dude." Takato pouted at them, knowing full well they were kidding.

"We better go before we're late for class," Kenta said sliding out of the alcove. "Yeah, if we're late Mrs. Saji's going to make us stand in the hall again," Karu agreed, following him, "C'mon baby dragon!"

"Be right there!" Takato replied while cleaning up, "Don't leave without me!"

Karu sighed, just knowing what was going to happen even without her visions. "Go ahead, just tell Mrs. Saji Takato had to use the bathroom and I stayed with him cause of the whole bodyguard thing, she'll understand," She told Kenta who nodded and both kids cringed at hearing the box for the cards fall to the ground, followed by Takato quiet yelp and whine, "Oh man!" With sigh, Kenta took off and Karu headed over.

"Honestly Takato, I-" Karu started before realizing he was staring at something, "What are you lookin' at?" Following his gaze, her eyes landed on a pure, dark blue card with a yellow and blue Digimon symbol in the middle. "I never seen a card like that before," Takato commented in a soft tone as he got off the alcove and stood by her. Karu curiously bent down and picked it up, then looked over, "I've never seen one like it before, how'd it get in the box?" Her chest tightened with a sense of foreboding, she didn't like this one bit. She yelped when Takato took it from her, "Takato, don't you dare do what I think you're going to do!"

"What's the harm?" Takato asked holding his card reader in the other hand. "You do remember that the _last_ time one of us said that, all three of us ended up in the hospital and my dad nearly had a heart-attack," She reminded, folding her arms but he didn't listen and swiped it. Instantly, a flash of electricity sparked, making Takato drop his card reader as Karu cried out, quickly pulling him away. "Um...is that new?" Takato asked nervously, earning a smack from her. "Dork, obviously not!" She shouted at him, they watched as the spark faded away and the data on the screen started to go haywire.

"Just great, first we're late and now my card reader goes haywire!" Takato complained, yet nervous about being late as he and Karu quickly gathered the cards. "Hey, I told you not to mess with the card, but does anyone listen to me, no!" Karu remarked as she grabbed his bag for him and put his box away, "Let's move!" They ran off as the bell rang.

"Sorry we're late Mrs. Saji!" Takato said as he and Karu rushed into the classroom, having to stop so Karu could grab her white, elbow-long jacket from her locker. "Apology accepted, just next time relive yourself before school," The brunette teacher said, much to Takato's embarrassment, realizing Kenta must've covered for them, Mrs. Saji knew perfectly well that Takato and Kenta had a hard time, Takato more so, over that silly (in her opinion) game since they hardly loosed, and knew full well not everyone was a good sport most of the time, so she understood Karu's reasons for being late.

As class went on about the history of the nation, Karu noticed Takato getting distracted and drawing something with his red and black pens, and shrugged, knowing Takato didn't need to pay much attention since he already had perfect grades in most classes and became distracted herself as her thoughts wondered back to her newest vision. It really unnerved her and she just couldn't let it go, it was the first time she actually heard a voice instead of just seeing the events she couldn't entirely explain. She sighed, why did she even have to have this stupid ability, she'll never know, but it was starting to get on her nerves.

After the school day ended, Karu and Kenta found themselves by the alcove waiting on Takato, having decided to have a sleepover at her house. "Takato, hurry up!" Karu snapped as the wind whistled in her ears, adding to her already growing headache, "Dad's going to have a cow if we don't get there in the next..." She checked the time on her card reader, "Twenty minutes!"

"Guys, the weirdest thing just happened!" Takato exclaimed not using his usual soft tone, his voice was naturally soft, but not like before so it got their attentions. "You making us late for the second time today?" Kenta joked, earning a giggle from Karu and a raspberry from Takato. "No!" Takato said as he jumped out of the alcove and showed them a white device with a three-by-three inch screen, it was ovalish in shape with two red buttons on top of this circle shape, a black circle surrounded the screen and a red one surrounded the black one, and it had a red strap with a buckle.

"No way that's what I think it is!" Kenta exclaimed in shock, adjusting his glasses. "That's...just not possible..." Karu said in shock. "But it is!" Takato said moving it around as he spoke, "I dumped my card box and that weird blue card from before was glowing, then it turned into this!"

"Can today get any weirder?" Karu asked more to herself. "Huh?" The two asked. "Never mind," She said shaking her head, much to their confusion, "Come on, before I'm grounded till we're all thirty!" With that, they ran off. "Oh how bad can your dad be?" Kenta asked. "I was late before and he nearly had a hernia thinking I had another migraine," She replied in simple-bluntness, 'This has been some day.'

Me: And there we have it, my first chapter's complete!

Rika: About time!

Me: Oh, cut me a break, Rika, I had a lot of spelling to not just double, but triple check!

Kazu: Karu sounds nothing like me!

Henry: Isn't that the point of an AU?

Takato: That honestly depends on the author and the goal they want.

Me: Thank you Takato! So, next time, Guilmon comes in and I'm introducing Hikaru's overprotective father and how she got so good at fighting!

Jeri: Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Me: Hey, Luka here! And I'm here with chapter two of Tamer Angel of Darkness!

Rika: About time too!

Me: Can you not be cranky?

Rika and Ryo: No.

Me: Though so.

Henry: Welcome to our world.

Rika: What's that suppose to mean?

Henry and Me: Nothing!

Me: Anyway, last we left our current three heroes, Takato just got his D-Arc and Calumon has arrived in the human world apparently looking for a princess...

Takato: What's with this 'princess' thing anywa-? *Slaps hand over his mouth*

Me: There's a thing called spoilers, Takato and that would be one.

Takato: Oh, oops.

Me: Anyways, yeah, Calumon's apparently looking for a princess. Also, Takato, Kenta and Karu...

Kazu: It's Kazu! *Smacks with a frying pan* OW! Stop that, seriously!

Me: Stop interrupting me! Anywho, Takato, Kenta and Karu are rushing to get home before her father has another heart attack. Now, take it away Jeri!

Jeri: Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or any of the original characters!

Kazu(muttering): Thank god...*Smacks him again* OW! Stop it already!

Me(hiding the pan behind self, grinning):Enjoy!

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Chapter 2: Guilmon Comes Alive

Takato, Kenta and Karu skidded to a stop to catch their breath, standing outside the door to Karu's dad's house/gym. You see, Karu's dad used to be a talented boxer until he discovered an old fling from school had a child and named him the father before dying on the way home from the hospital. Unable to let go from his drive, he open a successful gym, even opening self-defense classes and of course, he trained his daughter personal even after hours and it paid off in many's opinion. The building was a two-story building with dark crimson walls and black curtains on the windows with heavy, dark wood double doors on the front, seeing into the windows you could see what few members were still there as staff started cleaning up the equipment.

"Right on time," Karu sighed as they started going in. "Oh, boys have you seen...?" A voice began, belonging to a young man in his early thirties with amber-brown hair pulled up into a little ponytail with tanned skin and green eyes, he wore a white muscle shirt under a half red, half black, short-sleeved jacket with black pants, red socks and red/white/black sneakers, "Hikaru, I was starting to worry."

"Oh Papa," Karu sighed, knowing the only time her father would _show_ _any_ worry was when she was involved, kicking off her shoes she went up to her father and kissed his cheek, "I'm fine, the boys are fine, everything's fine."

"Speaking of the boys," Her father said, raising an eyebrow at the innocent grins said boys put on, "Am I to assume you're both here for a sleepover," The three kids nodded innocently, "Your parents don't know, do they?" They shook their heads, making him sigh and point to the phone on the wall and the boys practically tripped over themselves getting to it, much to the father and daughter duo's amusements. "Honestly Papa, one day you're going to scare them so badly they won't want to come here anymore," Karu commented. "Next time, call before you leave the school," Her papa said simply, yet bluntly and thus, her friends could see where she got most of her personality from.

"Alls clear!" Kenta exclaimed as he and Takato walked over. "Same with my parents," Takato agreed with his usual soft, meek voice. "Good, now off with you kids," The man smiled, motioning to the stairs that led to the actual house level of the house. In all honesty, he didn't mind having the boys over, they were both honest and polite, and they genuinely like his daughter, the best part was that they knew what to do if her migraines got to be too much so it made feel much more at ease then before. In fact, those two were over so much, they were like sons to him and they even had their own things tucked in one of the closets. "Okay Mr. Shiota!" Kenta chirped as they went up stairs, making the man look at them with a raised eyebrow, noticing how anxious the three suddenly were, likely they would jump at the drop of a pin as if they were trying to hide something.

Later on that night, the three friends were together, silent as the very night. Takato wore light blue pjs with white clouds on them, sitting Indian-style on the floor, Kenta wore grey pjs with green leaves and sat on Karu's bed, while Karu herself sat in her computer desk chair wearing a black nightgown with white feathers. Karu's room itself was painted blue with runic symbols painted on them in various colors. She had a reddish-brown computer desk, having filled its mulitple square or rectangular shaped shelves with hand-made, clay figurines of various animals and pictures of her friends and family, her laptop being lime green in color with a gold heart on the top with whitish-blue wings. She had various posters of the school sports team and Digimon, having her own Gatomon-themed alarm-clock, her bed was light red with white sheets and reddish-brown pillows. They were sitting in a circle around the device.

"This just doesn't make any sense," Karu finally said, "How is a digivice even real?"

"And how did baby dragon here get it?" Kenta added. "What I want to know is how that card turned into it," Takato said. Meanwhile, up on a pole not far from the gym, the little white creature was sitting dejectedly as he watched people go by. "How am I suppose to find the princess in a place this big?" He wondered aloud, "Let alone find someone nice to play with."

"What are we going on about?" Kenta said unable to believe Takato's story about the blue card, "It's just a game."

"Yeah, but games don't change shape," Takato stated as he looked through his box of cards. "I told you not to swipe that stupid card!" Karu frowned at him pointedly. "Okay, okay, I get it, next time, I'll listen to you!" Takato said not noticing his note book slip out from the box, but Karu did. "And what's this?" She asked picking it up, much to his alarm. "It's nothing!" He yelped, trying to take it back, but a foot to the chest stopped him. "I wouldn't be nothing if you really want it back," Karu remarked, "Besides, I saw you working on something during class," She gasped in awe of the red and black raptor like dinosaur on the paper with the hazard symbol on its stomach, "Aw, its so cute!"

"Cute?" Takato groaned, "He's suppose to look fearsome!"

"Whatcha going to call him?" Kenta asked as Karu gave him a peek at it. "I was thinking...Guilmon," Takato smiled. "Seems fitting," Karu praised making him blush, but then hum in thought. "You know, if this is a real digivice, then it must've appeared for a reason," He mused. "Well, until we figure that out no messing with it," Karu forbade, "And I mean it this time, don't either of you dare to swipe anymore cares with it!" She gave them a very scary glare that just dared them to disobey her and it sent a shiver up their spines as they quickly nodded muttering a 'yes, ma'am!' at her, much to her satisification. "Kids!" Karu's father called, "Time for bed!"

Later that night, Kenta laid snoring lightly in the guest room, while Takato laid wide-awake in his sleeping bag in Karu's room, since her father knew very well Takato was way to innocent to try anything. The man tried to threatened them while mention the term 'hanky-panky' and Takato didn't understand one bit of it, which relieved Karu, who was sound asleep in her bed. Takato just couldn't sleep, his mind kept wandering to the digivice, which laid innocently on Karu's desk, waiting to be used. 'Oh, this is ridiculous!' Takato mentally groaned, turning onto his side, glancing up at the peaceful face of his best friend, 'One little peek at it can't hurt.' That decided, Takato quietly got up and reached for the digivice, pausing when Karu stired only to turn on her side and continue sleeping.

Takato gently took the little machine from its perch and sat Indian-style on his sleeping bag and then took out his sketch of Guilmon. 'Just maybe...' He wondered, before trying to scan the paper, only for it to get jammed in the slot, much to Takato's panic when he couldn't pull it back out, 'Oh no, it's stuck! Don't tell me I broke it already, Karu's going to kill me!' As if on cue, Karu sneezed in her sleep, making him freeze, before quickly putting the digivice and paper back on the desk and quickly tuck himself into his sleeping bag.

But then a loud whirling noise jolted both him and Karu awake. "Huh? Wha-?" She stuttered, wide-awake and both gasped to see the digivce was pulling the paper through the slot by itself scanning the picture of Guilmon, while sending it to the floor and it kept going until it got to a blank page.

They stared at the now silent machine in silence, before the screen lit up as and on it was a white egg with red splotches, this made Takato smile, apparently forgetting a slightly confused Karu was still in the room, wide-awake. "A digi-egg...my very own, real-life, digi-egg..." Takato said. "Takato..." Karu said in a low, angered tone, making him falter a little, "What did you do?" He chuckled sheepishly, "You know what, we'll talk about this in the morning, good-night." With that, she laid back down to go to sleep, not seeing nor hearing his quiet sigh of relief. Minutes later, Takato was also asleep, clutching the digivice, muttering about Guilmon as quiet as a mouse (an amazing feat seeing he's fast asleep), while a sleeping Karu was groaning quietly in her sleep in pain, tears pricking her eyes.

It was happening again, first time it happened in her sleep. That shearing, bright hot pain was back, another migraine. What neither human saw, was a very, very faint white rune was appearing on her forehead. Another vision was appearing to her and this time it wasn't just her, Takato was seeing it too. Below them was a foggy street, so foggy they could almost feel its cold substance on their skin. 'Wh-what's happening?' Takato thought in confusion and Karu became tense, yet confused at hearing his voice. 'T-Takato?' She wondered, but her 'eyes' were glued to the scene below as a dark figure appeared on the street. The shadows on the figure seemed to melt away, revealing a girl their age with long red hair with light gingery-orange highlights pulled up into a spiky ponytail with a green elastic with fair skin. She was wearing a white shirt with a teal, broken heart picture on and a yellow collar under a beige trench coat with dark jeans with a brown belt and smaller ones on her left thigh with white, yellow and teal shoes, a pair of violet-tinted glasses perched on her nose.

In front of her was a large lion Digimon made completely of flames with blazing green eyes. Behind her, a kneeling figure appeared, cloaked in shadow, like a Japanese fighter awaiting their signal. The girl removed her glasses, un-fazed by the large monster before her, revealing her violet eyes. "It's Lynxmon VS Renamon," She said emotionlessly, before walking to the side, revealing the figure behind her to be a six-foot-tall humanoid fox with yellow fur with a white stomach and collar fur, a tuff of yellow fur spiked up on its shoulders and its ears and tail were tipped with white. It wore purple gloves with the yin-yang symbols on the back of the hands and had three, black-tipped claws. It stood, while revealing icy blue eyes.

But just as Renamon reached her full height she was pounced on by Lynxmon and the human girl didn't even flinch at what happened as the fire beast clouded both Digimon in a trail of smoke, which then revealed Lynxmon having pinned Renamon as the girl turned to face them. "Renamon...digi-modify," The girl said as she held up three Digimon stat cards, making the two on-lookers gasp as she held up a digivice identical to Takato's, only hers was bue instead of red and she swiped a card, creating a whip of blue energy, "Speed activate."

"A Digimon Tamer..." Karu heard Takato say in amazement and she herself felt amazed by how well the girl was handling herself and with real, dangerous Digimon no less. But yet, she felt a wave of shearing hot pain again as she watched the two creatures. "This...can't be real..." Karu said.

Renamon sudenly smirked and in a blur of color, she was gone and reappeared, levatating high above behind Lynxmon, pulling her arms and legs close inward to herself as a pale blue light gathered within her arms. Spreading her arms and legs out caused the light to break, revealing thousands of white, glowing crystals. "Diamond Storm!" Renamon exclaimed in an echoing voice, firing the crystals at the stunned Lynxmon who roared in pain. In an instant, Takato was up, but for Karu the vision didn't stop. "Wow...what a dream..." Takato said as he sat up and glanced down at the still pulsing egg that was inside the digivice.

Karu watched in shocked-horror, tears falling as she watched Lynxmon break down into data particials. She groaned in pain as the feeling intensified tenfold, it was as if she was hit by Renamon's attack too. The particials then disappeared into Renamon as the girl smirked in satisfaction. Hearing the groan, Takato glanced at Karu, only to nearly shriek to see her clutching the sheets in a near whitening grip, sweat rolling down her face as she twisted her head around, face flushed. It was becoming to much for her. "Karu?" Takato said in concern, quickly standing in alarm as she started to jerk, "Hikaru!"

"T-T-Takato...?" She mumbled opening her eyes weakly, tears springing free, but then welded them shut as the pain increased and she screamed, jolting her father and Kenta awake. "Mr. Shiota! Kenta!" Takato screamed, which really woke them up, "Hikaru's having seizure!"

* * *

Me: And there you have it, the dramatic ending of chapter 2! Karu's pain has become so bad, she's having a seizure! What will happen next?

Henry: Takato meets Guilmon next right?

Me: Oh Henry, what did I say about spoilers? Oh well...

Henry: Sorry.

Takato: Is Karu going to be okay?

Kazu: Not you too Takato!

Me: Oh, don't worry Takato, Karu's going to be fine. If she's anything like Kazu, this is barely going to keep her down.

Kazu...I don't know if I should see that as praise or an insult.

Me:...It was a compliment. Anyways, read and review, see ya next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Me: Hey, I'm back~!

Kazu(groaning): Oh no...

Me: Hey! You know what I'm going to ignore you!

Takato: Oh come on Luka, don't be upset!

Kenta: Yeah, Kazu's just sore about being a girl in this story.

Kazu: HEY!

Luka: Aw, thanks you two!

Suzie: So, what's in this chapter?

Luka: Well, last we left off Karu had another vision, only this time Takato saw it too, giving a sort of introduction to Rika and Renamon, only this time around the pain of it was so bad it sent Karu into a seizure. So, this will be Guilmon's opening chapter. Now, take it away Suz!

Suzie: Okay! Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or any original characters to it, but she does own Karu!

Kazu: It's Kazu! *Smacks with a frying pan* OW! Seriously, stop that!

Luka*Smiling innocently*: Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: Enter Guilmon!

To say it was an eventful morning was an understatement, though Kenta and Takato got to ride in the back of a ambulance, they couldn't enjoy it because their best friend was having a near violent seizure, jerking in pain despite being strapped down. As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Karu's father gave them money for a payphone so they could call their parents and tell them what happened (also giving said parents heart-attacks). Knowing they won't leave until they know she's okay, their parents gave permission for them to be absent from school, while phoning for all three seeing as Karu's father was distracted with his daughter's health. They brought their sons clothes and some proper breakfast, leaving Takato in his usual sweater with dark jean shorts, while Kenta wore a simple dark grey shirt and dark red pants.

The silence, granted after only five minutes, proved to be for once too much for Takato, who decided to spill the beans about the dream to Kenta, somehow still holding onto the digivice. "But Kenta it's true, you gotta believe me!" Takato insisted, while keeping his voice down, "Digimon are real!" Kenta just watched as his friend ranted, "I saw them! Two real ones! Fighting right in front of me! They were going at each other and it was so cool! It was raining and-!"

Kenta cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth and said, "And then you opened your eyes and you were back in bed, like nothing had ever happened, honestly who are you trying to kid, Takato?"

Irritated, Takato slapped the hand away and nearly shouted, "It was _**not**_ a dream!" He quickly lowered his voice, cheeks turning bright red as he realized what he just did, "It was felt way too real to be a dream! I could actually feel the mist on my skin!" He shivered as he remembered the feeling, "I never felt something so cold..." Kenta suddenly smirked, choking out a snort.

"Maybe you made your own rain puddle..." Kenta said snickering as Takato stared in confusion for a moment, before turning bright red as the realization dawned on him. "Kenta! You promised not to bring that up!" Takato exclaimed in embarrassment, "It was only that one time!"

 _ **"Poor mister sleepy head, made his own water bed!"**_ Kenta sang playfully in jest. "Don't make me tell Karu!" Takato threatened which had made Kenta stop and pale. But then both boys became silent as they remembered the situation; their best friend had to have been such pain to cause a seizure of all things and they worried for her. It was barely five minutes later that Karu's father walked over, like the boys he didn't have much time to change from discovering his daughter's seizure and his hair was a mess from his rush getting her here. At seeing him both boys stood, fearing the worse.

"Hikaru's going to be fine," He assured them making the two boys almost deflate in relief, "The doctors think it was just the stress and pain of the migraine was so much her body tried to shut itself down all at once but backfired."

"So she's going to be okay?" Takato asked in worry, wondering if this was all his fault as he gripped the hidden digivice. "She'll be in here for a little bit to make sure nothing else is wrong," Karu's father replied, "But she'll be fine." Takato sighed in relief at this. "Can we see her?" Kenta asked hopefully. "Of course, just...try not to get her worked-up," The man replied and they nodded before walking to their friend's hospital room. When they were out of sight, he sighed before pulling out a digivice of his own, but it was different from Takato's. This one was longer and rectangular shaped, it was also white and red, but also had black on it, "Oh Ivy, if only you were here...you'd know what to do..." He looked out the window where a single raven could be seen perched on a wire across the street.

The faint beeping of a machine was the first thing to greet them when Kenta opened the door to Karu's room. The girl was tucked soundly into a standard hospital bed wearing a hospital gown. An IV had been put into her arm and she was asleep, peaceful for once as far as they knew. "Karu..." Kenta whimpered just not used to seeing the brunette girl so...vulnerable. He could tell it was bothering Takato too, the poor boy was shaking like a leaf as tears fell down his face. 'This...This is...all my f-fault...' Takato thought sobbing as he and Kenta stood by Karu's bedside, Takato let the digivice fall to the floor with a clank before he fell to his knees sobbing as his head hit the bed's mattress. Kenta was startled by his friend's actions but was silenced as Takato spoke through his sobs, "I-I'm s-sorry...Karu, I should've listened to you about that stupid card instead of swiping it!" Kenta stared, but smiled as Karu opened her eyes and turned her head to listen, "And...and now, you had a seizure from the stress and your migraines don't help!" Kenta and Karu shared a smile, though Kenta's was a little more strained and awkward, while Karu's was more amused, "I'm sorry...Hikaru."

Karu just smiled as she weakly placed a hand gently on Takato's head and stroked his hair in a comforting way. "Idiot, I'm not dead, ya know," She said, playfully much to Takato's startlement as he looked up, "But, hey, I forgive you...so long as you never call me 'Hikaru' again." Takato just gave a watery smile and chuckle, and said, "Deal." He then hugged her carefully, which Kenta then joined.

Karu smiled, despite her pain she'd always go out of her way to make sure her boys had a smile on their faces. She then noticed the digivice on the floor and squinted when she noticed something on the screen. "So, what I miss?" Karu asked confused as she allowed Kenta to help her into a sitting position as he fixed her pillows; hey, even she enjoyed being pampered every once in a blue moon.

"Baby Dragon here claims Digimon are real," Kenta sighed shaking his head, much to Karu's shocked-confusion. "Because they are!" Takato insisted as he pulled himself up a chair and Kenta fetched his own, and then began to re-tell his 'dream' to the badly confused Karu, "I had this really weird vision, I was these two Digimon, real ones! Going at each other! It was so cool! It was raining and they were on a highway and-!" During Takato's rambling, Karu's eyes widened as she realized Takato had seen the same vision she saw. 'But...how is that possible?' Karu wondered, but momentarily wondered if that was what caused her seizure, the fact he called it a vision didn't help.

"Um...Takato?" Karu spoke up, cutting him off, "Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"

"That's what I asked," Kenta muttered exasperatedly. "But-But Dark Angel, this wasn't a dream! It felt way too real to be a dream!" Takato insisted feeling a little stunned and hurt she didn't believe him, before remembering the girl he saw, 'And her...who is she? That tamer. I know I didn't just dream her up, I've seen her before but I can't remember where.' He then picked up the digivice and gasped. "What is it Takato?" Karu asked concerned, he looked at her and Kenta with wide crimson eyes. "The digi-egg...it hatched," He answered, showing them the screen and low and behold, the egg had been split in half, like it had in fact hatched.

"No way!" Kenta exclaimed in shock, feeling very lost, "When did you get a digi-egg?"

"It must've hatched last night," Karu theorized much to her greenette friend's shock. "You knew?" He asked. "Oh course I did," Karu replied simply as if it were obvious, "He was sleeping in my room when he got it and that thing isn't quite when it scans something." That made the two sweat-drop. Takato shook his head before scrolling through the screens, only to find they were all empty save the one with the empty egg. "H-He's not here!" Takato exclaimed in alarm.

"What?" Kenta said in disbelief, "Now I know why your parents won't let you have a pet; you can't even keep track of a digital one!" This earned him a stern frown from Karu along with a smack in the arm, making him yelp. "You aren't exactly the best either Kenta," She shot at him, before looking at Takato, "Besides, Digimon, if they are real, aren't pets. Need I remind you of what the Digimon in the series were capable of and Guilmon isn't a re-known Digimon, Takato created him! Who knows what he can do if he's actually here!"

"There's gotta be a way to track hi-!" Takato began while messing with the buttons, only to yelp in surprise when a holographic compass appeared over the screen, making the other two yelp as a single red triangle began moving around before pointing at one of the blue slants, "W-Why did it stop?" He looked up to see it was pointing out the window. Following his gaze, an idea crossed Karu's mind about what the compass might mean. "Takato...follow it," She told him, much to her boys' confusion, "If my idea is right, that compass is like the D-Terminal from Digimon 02, it might lead you to wherever Guilmon is."

"Hold on, you're not actually believing his crazy story, are you?" Kenta asked. "Kenta, look at the facts," Karu replied, "A blue Digimon card appears out of nowhere and when Takato swiped it, it turned into a _digivice_ and when it scanned Takato's drawing an egg appeared, now this. I'm finding it hard not to believe it."

"Okay, say for argument's sake; Takato's right and Digimon are real, and Guilmon really is out there somewhere," Kenta sighed, "Shouldn't we tell someone, like your father?"

"Did the Digidestine?" Karu replied making him groan, "Besides, he'd never believe us, is anything he might ship us off to the loony-bin."

"Us, he'd never do that to you," Takato said, "But are you sure I should, won't you need me here?"

"Baby Dragon, I have Bluejay and my father," Karu smiled, "I'll be fine, it's Guilmon whose going to need you right now; he's all alone in this big new world and you're the only one who can help him." Takato smiled feeling that big bound of confidence he always felt with his friends being there to help him begin to grow in his chest, before looking at Kenta for re-assurance. "Go, help Guilmon, if he is out there," Kenta said deciding to give them a benefit of a doubt, "Dark Angel isn't going anywhere for a while so I think Mr. Shiota and I can handle things here by ourselves. He needs you." Takato smiled with a confident nod, before leaving, giving a quick excuse to a confused and startled Mr. Shiota.

Meanwhile, back in the government felicity, a red dot on the screen was more intense then others and the beeping was louder, more consistent. "High-level wild type," The woman with long amber-red hair said, "Bio-emergence is now immanent."

"Primary tracer activated," Her colleague, who had short light brown hair, said after brief seconds of typing, before addressing their boss, "Shall I stop him?"

"Not just yet," He replied, "Keep the tracer locked; I'm interested to see what this one does."

"Affirmative," The one with shorter hair said, "Tracer locked."

Back with our main hero, Takato stopped at a store to buy a piece of rope. He looped through the end of the digivice's strap, then carefully tied off the ends and then placed it around his neck like a necklace. Exiting the shop, Takato looked at the compass to figure out which way to go. "This way," He said running off, "I promise, I'll prove it to everyone, Karu, Kenta; Digimon _are_ real! And I'll prove it by finding Guilmon!"

Back in the hospital, Karu was looking out the window, her mind on the vision as Kenta chatted with her father. 'How is it possible?' She wondered, 'How on Earth did Takato see that vision too. I know it wasn't a dream, I can tell the difference, but it also explains hearing his voice.' She sighed tiredly, she really hated her visions now. "Is something wrong honey?" Her father asked. "No, I'm fine, just a little hungry I guess," She assured with a smile.

"I'm sure there's something edible in the cafeteria," He said, walking out, "I'll be right back."

"I better go with him to make sure it **is** edible," Kenta said playfully, "You know hospital food."

"Yeah, just as bad as the school's," Karu joked back, making them both laugh. "Mr. Shiota!" Kenta called, going after him as she smiled, "Wait, I'll go with you!"

As soon as they were gone, Karu hissed as a familiar pain made itself known. "Oh, not again..." She groaned, gritting her teeth. She saw flashes and heard animal-like sounds that were crossed with growls and grunts, seeing bits of a red and black raptor with a familiar hazard symbol on its white belly, "G-Guilmon..." She whined softly in pain as she laid back, helpless to do anything but pray, "Takato...please be safe, my baby dragon..."

Meanwhile, in a secluded alley, all the machines began to go haywire as a soft, but thick fog filled every space within. Then, out of nowhere a pale greenish-blue and white pillar of light shot up high into the air touching the sky. In a nice apartment, a little girl with dark purple hair in small pigtails with matching eyes of both Chinese and Japanese origin, wearing a white shirt under a pink cheongsam-style (I think that's how its spelled) vest with yellow-trimmings with dark purple shorts, white socks and yellow shoes with white laces and soles.

She was playing with a Digimon doll that resembled a Digimon known as Terriermon; a cream-colored Digimon that had the body similar to a dog with rabbit ears so long they draped on the floor with green marks on them and the ears were tipped in green, having a single horn. As she played, a young teen our trio's age was typing away busily on a computer. He resembled the girl with the same tanned skin having the same crossed-Asian origin, but had short blue hair and grey eyes wearing an orange, zipped-up vest over a black, short-sleeved shirt with brown pants, black socks and grey and yellow shoes with white soles and matching wristbands.

"Tewwiwmon digivolve to...!" The little girl began, pronouncing her 'R's as 'W's, before noticing the light out the window, causing her to stand and drop the doll flat on its face, before stepping over it, mesmerized by the light, "Pwetty!" She then waved at the boy, "Henwy, come hewe! Look at the pwetty light!" Getting the boy's attention and he gasped at seeing the light.

Meanwhile, beneath a train-track, among the busy people was the same redheaded girl from Takato and Karu's vision, only she ditched the trench coat and was listening to music on her Ipod. But then, she noticed the light and her eyes narrowed as she muttered, "Something's coming..." With that, she vanished into the crowd of people as the pillar of light faded away.

Back with Takato, he followed the compass into a narrow alley between a video game store and a hairdresser till he reached a dead-end and then slid down a pipe to the alleyway below. He smiled at the compass, "Almost there." As he continued on, the path got so narrow, he had to shimmy between the walls, sucking in his breath to get by pipes, before reachng the end and blinked at seeing a tunnel and looked in to see a little bit of garbage scattered about.

"Oh gross..." Takato groaned as he began to crawl down it, "I don't even want to know what that smell is..." Not looking, he accidentally pressed his hand down on a rat, making it shriek, startling Takato so badly, he slammed his head on the tunnel roof, but kept going, until he saw the tunnel had taken him to some sort of mining pit with a light coming from within despite being abandoned, "Whoa..." Peering in, he saw the light was coming from a small circle, which was giving a purple pulse, which visualized on the ground in a sort of shockwave.

Looking at the compass, he saw four red triangles forming, pointing at the center; he found Guilmon's location. "This is it," Takato smiled, "He's all mine."

Back in the felicity, the red dot suddenly vanished into a red x, which also then disappeared. "He's going to breach!" The long-haired girl said, "I can't stop him!"

"Where?" The man asked.

Takato carefully made his way down the stairs as the light began to close in on itself. "Location; West Shinjuku," The long-haired woman replied.

Back in the pit, Takato just reached the bottom as the portal changed into a pitch black color, which then exploded, startling him as a large dome of thick fog covered the area and Takato clung onto the stair rail from the force. When the wind died down, Takato loosened his grip and opened his eyes, squinting at the thickness of the fog to see a dark silhouette. "Some entrance," Takato remarked as he fixed his footing, before focusing on the silhouette, "So hard to see...is it...? Looks like him!"

Then, the fog cleared to reveal a raptor like Digimon with red skin and black markings with fins for ears and a long, black-ringed tail with powerful legs and three-fingered claws, a familiar black hazard-symbol. The Digimon blinked open large, round pure gold-colored eyes with an innocent coo of confusion.

"It... _is_ him," Takato said in amazement, "Wow, he's perfect!" Guilmon sniffed the air curiously, before giving a sneeze, shaking his head to clear it, before flexing his two-toed feet with coos, before giving a little scratch to his arm, as if unsure what to make of himself. He gave a sort of giggle, like a new baby discovering a new, good thing as the tip of his tail tapped itself against the pavement.

"Oh man, he's amazing...and real!" Takato said as he began to go around the railing, "He's actually real! A real, live Digimon!"

It was then Guilmon noticed some rats on a pipe a few feet from him and titled his head with a grin of interest as he sniffed. "Hi, my name's Takato and...I think I created you..." Takato said stepping forward, but stopped when he saw Guilmon's pupils dilate, "Guilmon...?" Guilmon lifted his head and released a powerful blast of shearing hot fire at the rats, but it sounded more like a sneeze.

"Uh...bless you," Takato said nervously as he remembered what Karu said about what Digimon were capable of, while looking at the five meters wide hole Guilmon's blast made in the wall, taking part of the pipe with it, which was smoking, poor rats didn't stand a chance, "Wow, just you don't like rats, huh?"

Guilmon, eyes normal, sniffed the air again, before looking at Takato, who yelped and fell over. "O-Okay j-just..." The boy stuttered wishing Karu and Kenta were here, specially Karu, "Stay calm..." He watched as Guilmon stood, looking much like a raptor, staring at him, "Everything's going to be fine...plan out of Kenta's book: scream, then run."

Guilmon tilted his head again and smiled innocently. Taking it the wrong way, Takato put his arms up over his head. "Please! Don't do it!" Takato cried in a panic, "Guilmon, stop!" Oh, he was so toast.

* * *

Luka: And that'll be that! Man, that took a while to finish!

Rika: Yeah, three days!

Luka: Oh, sue me if I had to babysit, on the bright side you were sorta-properly introduced along with Henry, Suzie and Terriermon! Now, I just want to clarify somethings before casting off. 1) I think Kazu has a nice side, he just has a hard time showing it, like how he tried to cheer Suzie up when everyone else was facing that giant bird sabrin, I don't remember his name, so I thought, being a girl, Karu would have an easier time showing her kind-side, hench her interaction with Takato. 2) Terriermon did do an amazing job as a doll in his first appearance, I almost thought he was one in the first espiode first time I watched it, so I'm didn't put up quotation marks. 3) Guilmon, when he made his debut, really did come off to me as confused about not just where he was, but what he was, so I'm trying to make him seem more innocent-like, not that its hard, he's just so cute and adorable already!

Also, in case people are curious, I'm going to reveal the voice actor for our female Kazu, which is Hayden Panettiere, she voice Kairi in Kingdom Hearts. Look her up on YouTube if you need to hear it first to know how she's suppose to sound. Well, in the words of good old Tigger; T.T.F.N; Ta-Ta for now!

Takato: Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Me: I'm back~!

Kazu (sighs, shaking head): Here we go again...*Smacks with frying pan* OW! Now what was that for?

Me (shrugging): Just felt like it.

Henry: So what's in this chapter?

Me: Well, last time we kind of introduced more of our heroes and I revealed the voice actor for Karu.

Rika: Who is this Kayden Panettaire anyway?

Takato: Hayden Panettiere is an actress that voice Kairi in Kingdom Hearts one and two.

Me: That's right, also, you were in a panic, thinking Guilmon was going to turn you to ashes like he did those rats.

Takato(embarrassed): Well, you'd be pretty scared too if you were in my shoes!

Me: Which thankfully I'm not.

Henry: So what's going on in this chapter?

Me: That would be telling, now wouldn't it?

Tamers(groaning and falling over amine-style)

Me: But I will say that as Takato sorts things out with Guilmon, Karu will be getting a very interesting visit from a certain purple Digimon in the hospital. I also thought this could expand more on his back story a bit. Now, take it away Rika!

Rika: No.

Me: Okay...take it away Ryo, then.

Rika: Ryo?

Ryo: Princess L-

Rika: On second thought, I'll do!

Ryo and Me(sharing a smirk): Okay then.

Rika: Princess Luka Focalzal does not own Digimon or any original characters, but does own Karu...(realizes what just happened): Hey!

Me: Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Guilmon Comes Home and Enter Impmon

Within the mine pit, Takato had his arms up in defense, waiting for Guilmon to blast him to ashes as said raptor walked closer. "Oh no! I created a Digimon and now he's gonna blast me into next week!" Takato panicked, whimpering as he felt Guilmon's breath on his head, waiting for the final blow, "Karu, help!"

Had Takato been looking, he'd seen the confused-curiosity in Guilmon's big golden eyes before sniffing him, before grinning happily. "Hi!" Guilmon chirped giving Takato a playful nudge. "And the last thing I'll hear is that terrible growl..." Takato whimpered before steeling his nerves enough to peek out between his arms to see Guilmon grinning at him, "Huh? You're...not going to attack me?" Guilmon just stared, before repeating, "Hi!"

"This...is the coolest!" Takato breathed in amazement as he looked at Guilmon, who simply stared back, waiting for a response, before smiling with a happy laugh, "I...I really created you! And you're real!" He was grinning so much it was starting to hurt, "My own, real Digimon!" He gently placed his hands on either side of the raptor's head, "Hi, G-Guilmon." Laughing happily, Takato hugged the cooing raptor's head.

Meanwhile, back in the hospital, Karu was sleeping peacefully, her migraines and visions long gone. Kenta had gone home and her father was having dinner down in the cafeteria after asking one of her not really her aunts, but aunts all the same, to watch the gym till he got back. Outside across the street, a single figure was sitting bored up on a sign. The figure was another Digimon that resembled a purple humanoid imp with long, pointed ears and tail with a white face wearing a red bandanna with matching gloves and a yellow character face on its chest, and had emerald-green eyes.

"Ah man, this place is so boring!" He complained loudly, "There's nothin' ta do or anyone ta prank without gettin' ma self inta trouble!" He sighed as looked up at the sky as the stars began to twinkle, "It's at times like this I wish I could go back to the Digital World, but NO!"He flopped backward with a groan of annoyance, "Me being me had to sign up on the retrieval mission with the rest of those buzzards to find that royal pain in the neck!" Whining mostly to himself, he sat back up and looked down at the swarm of humans below, "But how am I suppose ta find the princess in this place? She could be anywhere!"

Groaning in boredom, Impmon laid back as he thought back to his mission and his original goal; to digivolve. To do that, he thought his plan would be easy join the retrieval team and find the missing kid, battle whatever Digimon got in his way and bring her home and finally digivolve, but alas it wasn't as easy as he thought it be. "Well, Hikaru with this progress you'll be ship-shape to go home in a day or so," A male voice suddenly said, making Impmon blink and look across the street at the tall building with a weird red cross.

In one of the windows he could see a tall man in a white coat talking to a human girl in a white gown with long, dark brown hair that was fringed all over the place with bluish-grey eyes in a hospital bed. Now this got Impmon curious. In all his time here, he had yet to see a little kid confined to the building humans got healed at unless it was something serious like a virus. From what he could tell, the girl was perfectly healthy, so why was she there? Maybe it was just something he couldn't see. Realizing he was getting to far into his thoughts (and where those thoughts were going), Impmon shook his head as the girl thanked the doctor, who then left.

"Why am I suddenly so curious about some human brat?" Impmon asked himself watching as the girl laid down to catch some rest, "I don't care, not at all. Humans are despicable!" With that, Impmon was about to leave when he heard a pained sound, it was quiet, but his highly trained ears caught it with a twitch. Turning, his eyes widened to see the girl twisting painfully in her sleep, clutching her head in pain. For the first time in a while, Impmon felt something he hadn't felt in a while; concern for someone other than himself.

Without another thought, Impmon easily jumped onto the telephone pole and ran along the line until he was close enough to the window, allowing him to jump into the room. Jumping up onto the bed, he felt her forehead gently and nearly yelped at how hot it was. Looking around, he spotted an adjoined bathroom and rushed for it, forgetting he was on the bed and fell flat on his face, much to his dismay. Shaking it off, he rushed into the bathroom and used the thankfully closed toilet seat to jump up to the counter. Turning on the cold water, Impmon realized he didn't have a cloth and after hesitating, took off his bandanna and soaked it.

After climbing back down, Impmon scaled the bed again to find the girl still in pain, her hands limp by her head. After neatly folding his now wet bandana, he gently placed it on her forehead and watched as the pain began to subside. He sighed, "Geez, humans really are gonna be the death of me." He then shook his head, wondering why he did that, why he helped her, he glanced down at her face as her breathing slowed and her expression slowly became to be peaceful and actually felt a kind of nice feeling he never felt before, knowing he helped her feel better. "Ah!" Impmon complained, "I'm turnin' inta a big softie over a human I've never even seen before!"

Meanwhile, Takato made it back home to his house, like Karu's house, it was also his family's business place, but instead of a gym, his parents' ran a bakery, a really popular one too. "Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Takato called, but then whispered to Guilmon who was hidden inside a large box, "Okay, you got to be really quiet!"

"Hey kiddo, you're sure home late," His father remarked, looking up briefly from his newspaper, his mother doing the dishes. "How's Hikaru, is she alright?" His mother asked, hoping the girl was okay. "She's fine, just...a lot of stress, she'll be back in school in a few days," Takato replied in his usual tone, soft and meek, his parents were well used to his shyness whenever his friends weren't around, "Just call me when dinner's ready!" Peeking into the dining room, Takato saw his parents distracted and quickly rushed to the stairs, but then remembered Guilmon and quickly motioned him over.

Takato's father turned his head just in time to see Takato trying to push the rest of the large box past the door-frame. "What's that?" The man asked, much to Takato's startled-alarm. "Uh...what's what?" The shy boy asked back. "That box you got," His father answered. "Oh!" Takato said deciding to play dump, while chuckling as he pushed it towards the stairs, "The box! It's...well, it's a box! It's like a box! It holds things!" His father just raised an eyebrow, "Uh...yeah!"

"Don't be dragging anymore trash up there, Takato!" His mother called, "You know I'll just end up throwing it out again later!"

"Okay!" Takato called back, his father got up to check on him as he heard his son mutter, "You gotta stay under the box!" Leaning out into the hall, Hiroki saw his son trying to pull the box up the stairs with a frown. "Takato?" He asked, startling the boy once again. "Come on Guilmon!" Takato hissed under his breath so his father wouldn't hear. "Need a hand there, son?" Hiroki offered unsurely as his son finally managed to get up a step.

"No thanks dad!" Takato chirped with a nervous expression, "I got this!" He chuckled nervously as his father went back into the dining room/kitchen, which caused him to miss seeing the box suddenly getting up and running up the stairs on its own, knocking a startled Takato down the two steps with a thud and yelp, but he was quick to get up and up the stairs just in time to escape his father as Hiroki looked back into the hall again, humming in thought as he heard something fall upstairs. Having a sneaky suspicion of what his son was up too.

Up in his room, Takato sighed in relief as he closed his bedroom door just in time as Guilmon tossed off the box and began to explore the room with immense curiosity and interest. The young raptor went up to Takato's desk and sniffed his backpack, bofore knocking it and all the other stuff around it off the desk.

"Hey, don't do that Guilmon!" Takato said rushing up to stop anything else from happening, much to the Digimon's confusion. "Guilmon?" He asked cutely, confused. "Listen Guilmon," Takato said seriously, hands on his hips, "You gotta keep out of trouble, you can't keep blasting things and knocking things over," During this, Guilmon just stared, head tilted, "I mean; mom yells at me when I bring a _box_ home, but a digital dinosaur?" He sighed, hanging his head in mild exasperation as well as depression, "She'd never stop yelling..." He then lifted his head to the side, commenting off-handedly, "That reminds me, I have to call Karu and Kenta to let them know I found you..." He then smiled at the red raptor, "Do you understand, boy?"

Guilmon was silent before pointing a claw at himself and asked in confusion, "I Guilmon?"

"Yeah," Takato smiled pointing at himself, "I'm Ta-ka-to." Guilmon just tilted his head further and said unsurely, "Ta-ka-to-mon?" That made the brunette gape slightly in shock, before almost face-palming. "I'm not a Digimon," He tried to explain, "Takato." To which made Guilmon grin happily as he repeated, "Takatomon!" Which made Takato groan in exasperation, wondering where the intelligence was. But as Mr. Shiota would say; you make due, but that didn't mean he couldn't try again.

"No, I'm a human-being," Takato said getting just slightly frustrated and was beginning to understand how Karu felt with him and Kenta, before looking for an idea, while muttering, "How do I explain this...? Let me think..." He then had a light-bulb moment, "That's it! I got just the thing! Wait!"

Takato then went to the alcove beneath his bed where he mostly hid all the cool stuff so his mother wouldn't find it and throw it all out. Guilmon just watched curiously as the human boy rummaged around, while muttering, "Good thing I hid this from Mom; everything I think is cool, she thinks is trash!" He stood back up after finding what he was looking for and turned to Guilmon to reveal it was a pair of round, almost perfectly circular goggles with yellow plastic trimmings on a black band. Ever since he first saw the Digimon series, Takato had always wanted a pair, having wanted to be just as cool and amazing as Tai and Davis, so for his birthday, Karu got them for him. He kept them hidden cause he could tell him mother didn't like them, even if she did accept them as a thoughtful gift.

"See Guilmon," Takato said motioning to his prized possession, "A Digimon Tamer."

"Ooh..." Guilmon cooed in wonder as he looked at the object, "Goggles..." Before smiling innocently.

Meanwhile, in the government building, the long-haired woman spoke to her boss, "Sir, there's another one trying to bio-emerge; initiating tracking sequence. The computer is acquiring lock on the target."

"Standby; the data-stream is congested," The short-haired woman said in warning, "We may not get a visual."

"Send a tracer," Their boss ordered. "Putting a tracer on line," The long-haired woman obeyed, "It's closing in on the target." Sure enough a green and violet blinking shape sky-rocketed towards the purple dot on the screen. "Huh," The man smirked muttering under his breath, "Run rabbit, run."

Back in the hospital Impmon sighed as he continued to watch the girl sleep, he didn't know why but he felt a strange drawing sense to her, like he had to by her, but it made no sense to him. "Ah...humans are so damn confusing..." He complained before eyeing his wet bandanna, which still rested up on her forehead like a face-cloth. He still had no idea what possessed him enough to have him help her, but it gave him too much of a headache to dwell on. He just started to reach for his bandanna, deciding it was time to go before he got caught, when the girl stirred making him freeze in alarm.

In the Mastuki residence, Takato was so happy with Guilmon finally being where he belonged, he slept on the floor beside him, having decided to call his friends in the morning or just tell them at school, while Guilmon slept soundly in his box. Takato had his head against Guilmon's in a comfortable way, his arms around his head and neck, like a child sleeping with a pet. Unknown to him, Hiroki quietly opened the door a little to check on his son, blinking when he caught the distinct scent of animal, before spying his son on the floor and smiled knowingly as he left, closing the door.

In the hospital, Impmon quickly jumped over the girl in a rush to get to the window. Karu sighed as she slowly woke up. She had the most unique vision up-to-date, of a small purple creature, a Digimon she was sure coming into the human world with various others, but was attacked by dark figures and was the only one to pass through. Before more could happen, she felt a cool sensation on her forehead and started to hear a young male voice speak about humans being the death of him and she felt more peaceful than she ever did before. She opened her eyes just in the nick of time to register movement on the bed, like someone jumping off as she felt the cold, damp cloth on her forehead, she heard scampering and the window opening.

Realizing someone was in the room with her, Karu's eyes snapped wide as she shot up and looked just in time to see a purple figure darkened by the night in the window, it turned its head towards her as she gasped appearing to hesitate, but disappeared into the night with a leap. "Wait!" Karu called, but he was gone. Looking down, she found a red cloth still cold and slightly damp, someone, not a nurse or doctor and certainly not her father, had taken care of her when they could've easily taken advantage of her or worse. Picking it up, she mildly wondered why her mysterious caretaker had helped her and why he left like that.

Back in the Mastuki residence, Tokako was sitting at her vanity in the master bedroom as her husband re-entered the room. "Come-on de-aging cream, work your magic," She mumbled as she applied the cream to her face. "You know honey, I've been thinking..." Hiroki began. "Ooh, did it hurt?" Tokako quipped not looking up. "Yes, exactly...um...well..." Hiroki said not noticing what she had said, "Takato...being an only child...and while Kenta and Hikaru are wonderful friends and all...can get...you know..."

"No way," Takato refused before her husband could say anymore. "Wha-but honey, I haven't even said anything yet!" Hiroki protested. "You don't have to," His wife answered, "We can't have pets here."

This was not what Hiroki had in mind at all, but he went with it and sat down, "Right...well...we could always hide it..."

"Its not the question on hiding it, what kind of lesson would we be teaching Takato is we show him its okay to break rules whenever he wants?" Takako explained never once facing him. "But honey, you know Takato, he's far too shy and polite to deliberately break any rules," Hiroki reasoned which made her falter a bit at his good point, "And besides, Hikaru is practically his big sister and very responsible for her age, do you really think she'd let him?"

"You know, I'm starting to think want to adopt that girl," Takako commented idly though she too had to admit, meeting her did make an impact on Takato's entire being in itself in a good way, "Besides, he isn't old enough to take care of a pet."

Across town in the park, a couple was enjoying their date, when they noticed a dome of think fog. The redheaded girl raced towards it, knowing what it meant; a Digimon was breaking the Digital Barrier and crossing into their world. "Another one's coming through!" She said taking out a pair of blue-tinted glasses to protect her eyes from the fog, then reached out to her Digimon mentally, 'Hurry up and get in gear Renamon or we'll miss all the fun!'

Her Digimon appeared by her side and once they reached the center of the dome, the girl removed her glasses, saying, "There it is! Renamon."

"I'm on it," The fox Digimon replied as her eyes glowed, allowing her to see past the thick fog to see just what had gotten into the human world. It was another human like Digimon with green skin wearing a creamish-brown tunic with spiked sleeves and a dark brown belt, boar-like teeth and had an orange mowk, holding a club.

"Goblimon, let's see..." The girl said as a picture of the Digimon appeared on a holographic screen above the screen of her digivice with a push of a button a second holographic screen appeared with information about him, "He cheats. He's got a Fire Ball Goblin Strike," She then gave a scoff of annoyed-distain with what she got, "He's just a rookie, where's the sport in that?" She smirked slightly at her partner, "Walk all over him Renamon."

Goblimon growled, before launching at them. "He's toast," Renamon stated as she jumped high into the air and then launched herself at him, landing a perfect high-kick right in Goblimon's chest, but as she jumped away, the attack didn't seem to faze him, just maybe lightly bruise. He growled once more before swinging his club at Renamon, who ducked and leapt up to upper-cut him, while teasing, "You missed." Goblimon growled angrily and charged at her as she landed elegantly on her feet.

Nearby, a familiar little white and purple Digimon was roaming the park, looking for clues about the object of his search. 'This is tougher than I thought it'd be,' He thought to himself looking around from atop a stone ledge at the few humans that were out tonight, 'How am I suppose to find the Princess? She could be anywhere, maybe I should've listened to Sorcerermon and went after the missing Cadets first.' He whined softly at his distress, before looking at the same couple the redheaded girl had passed, before musing, "Maybe I just need to ask someone."

With that in mind, he made his way over to them, jumping up onto the backrest of the bench. "Hi there!" He chirped getting their surprised attentions. "W-What is that thing?" The man said in shock. "I'm lost and I'm looking for the Princess and..." He began, only to be cut off by the couple screaming about aliens and running away in fear, much to his hurt-confusion, but then noticed the dome, "Maybe they can help!" Without another thought, he rushed towards it.

Back in battle, Goblimon charged with his club bared at Renamon, who jumped up and kicked again, while teasing once more, "Missed again!" He tried again only for her to cartwheel effortlessly over him, making him ram into the fence, "Whoops!" She took notice the pink hue on his face as he turned and cooed mockingly, "Ooh, so close." Enraged, Goblimon swung his club at her, making her jump high into the air to dodge.

At seeing he wasn't tiring, Renamon glanced at her human and said, "He's not losing strength Rika!"

"Yeah, this is boring," Rika Nonaka, the famed Digimon Queen replied before looking through her deck of Digimon cards, "Let's see...which one..." She picked a Stat card, "Yes, the Boost card," She then did the same swipe as she did in Takato's dream, creating another blue energy arc as she said, "Digi-Modify! Hyper chip activate!"

Almost immediately, Renamon was engulfed in a yellow glow, while Goblimon was engulfed in a red one, only the red glow transformed him, making Rika gasp, "He digivoled, but how? He shouldn't be able to." The new form resembled a tall goblin with red skin and long grey hair with horns, wearing a yellow and black tiger-stripped loincloth, holding a bigger club made of bone with spikes, the arm holding the skin had a black leather wrist-guard and the other had a wrist-guard that matched his loincloth.

Back in the Matsuki residence, Guilmon was no longer beside the sleeping Takato, but wild awake, softly growling, pupils in narrow slits, creating a truly dangerous expression on his face. The growling was just loud enough to wake up Takato, who found Guilmon glaring out his double window, poised as if readying for an attack, even though the curtains were drawn. This set an alarming going off in Takato's head, cause the only other time he had seen a scene like this was two years ago when he was sleeping over at Karu's house and she was up with a bat in her hands, glaring at her door. It had paid off because some idiot had broken in and when he entered her room, she beat him senseless with her bat; one of the many reasons Takato knew better than to mess with her, and also to trust even the most odd of instincts, so he stood.

"What's the matter, boy?" Takato asked walking over, but the raptor Digimon didn't reply, "Guilmon?" Confused, he pulled the curtains open, "There's nothing there, see?" But Guilmon continued to growl and glare, much to Takato's confused-worry.

Back in the battlefield, the new goblin Digimon jump up and swung his club at Renamon, who was quick to dodge. "Renamon," Rika said in a cool voice, arms and legs crossed, showing little concern for her partner, "I'm going to be very vexed if you lose."

"Don't worry, Rika," Renamon assured in a sooth tone of voice as she glanced at her human, then looked back at her opponent, "Just watch." She then jumped back into the fray as her enemy charged at her as she landed beneath a set of monkey bars, but jumped away again as he destroyed the monkey bars with his club. Just as the Digimon turned, Renamon landed a swift side kick right to the head, then kneed him in the face and then her arms became a blur as she punched him repeatedly in the chest and face, sending him flying into some rumble.

"Is that all ya got, big boy?" Renamon taunted silkily as she landed with the grace of a cat once more. The Digimon roared in answer as he charged again, in response Renamon leaped into the air and shouted, "Diamond Storm!" She fired the dazzling attack with a cry, "Ha!"

"That's more like it Renamon," Rika said in satisfaction, "Not even a champion-level Digimon can stand in our way anymore," She watched as the Digimon burst into thousands of blue chips, "Now, download Fugamon's data," She watched as Renamon glowed white, absorbing the data chips making herself stronger, allowing Rika to say with certainty, "Next time, you'll win...without my help." The fact made her smile coldly, unknown to them, the white Digimon had been watching in the bushes with wide, watery eyes. 'Ooh...I hope that wasn't a Cadet...' He thought looking at Renamon and Rika, 'Why would they attack him?' He looked more at Rika though in thought, 'Could...she be the princess...?'

* * *

Me: Well, that's that. Impmon has been introduced and he's also looking for this princess, and we've had our first Digimon fight!

Rika: And of course its us.

Guilmon: Nice work take down Fugamon, Renamon!

Renamon: Why, thank you.

Impmon: Who are these 'Cadet' dorks?

Me: Can I ever finish around here?

Takato: I doubt it.

Me: Oh well, anyways, I'm not spoiling anything, so keep your bandanna on Impmon. Also, Calumon thinks Rika is this missing princess, is she?

Rika: Please say no.

Terriermon: Hey, when am Henry and I getting some limelight?

Henry: Terriermon!

Terriermon: What, I'm just asking.

Me: I think sometime in the next chapter, this is also the whole school fiasco and I'm still debating on introducing Karu and Kenta to Guilmon early or not, I do want them to be more active characters compared to the actual show.

Kazu: I can't believe this.

Kenta: What?

Kazu: The I'm a girl in this whole thing, usually that's Chummley's bit.

Takato(embarrassed): Hey!

Me(trying to talk over everyone): Hey guys...guys...(fed up, blows a shoehorn making everyone fall silent) and here I thought that only worked in cartoons...anyways, please review and comment, and do make suggestions, I'm open to them! Also, remember my golden rule: Don't. FLAME!


	5. Chapter 5

Me: Hey guys, I'm back~!

Kazu(sighs): I'm not even gonna bother…(smacks with frying pan) OW! What was that for now?

Me(shrugs): Just used to it I guess.

Rika(shaking head): Here we go again…

Me: So we're here with another chapter of Tamer Angel of Darkness and this time, we're taking another look into our heroes school and we're having a little introduction to Henry and Terriermon.

Terriermon: About time!

Henry: Terriermon!

Me: Ah, don't worry about it Henry, I have been taking a while to finish that last chapter.

Takato: In your defence, you were working on that Chaotic fic.

Me: True. But any-who, I'm calling out to my two recent reviewers. To foxchick1, I don't know anything about Kenta, but I can try to introduce Karu a bit more early, but I can't promise anything. As to suntan140, well, I guess it would make sense if Karu were the princess, now wouldn't it? But the true identity of our lost royal won't be revealed until much later on, so I'm not spoiling anything, after all for all we know Karu could just simply be one of those rare, genuine physics. Also, I'm thinking of giving Karu a different partner and I'm going to put up a poll about right after I post this chapter, so you guys can pick who it is. Now, with that out of the way, we can move on; take it away Takato!

Takato: Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or any of its original characters, but does own Karu!

Me: Enjoy~!

It took a few days, but Karu was finally released from the hospital back into her father's care. During this, Hiroki managed to convince Takako to let their son keep whatever animal he had found in the mean time, convincing her it would keep his mind off Karu, and it did at first.

The morning after Karu was released was a calm morning, plenty of sunshine and singing birds and Takato's parents were preparing for the morning rush. Takato, however, ready for school, was sneaking down the stairs, since he knew today was the day he had to get Guilmon out of the house or his parents would surely find him.

After peaking into the dining room and seeing they weren't there, Takato hurried down the hall and into the kitchen and quickly slipped into the hall that led outside. But he wasn't quick enough, since his mother caught him out of the corner of her eye. "Takato!" She called as Takato started taking the bread rolls already made, "Remember that time you found that cat and brought it home?" As much as Takako would to get her son a pet, since she saw how much he loved helping little critters, she couldn't because they weren't allowed pets here.

Quickly chewing and swallowing the bread in his mouth, Takato answered his mother in his usual soft-toned voice, while stuffing his pockets full of bread for Guilmon, "I didn't just find it mom, that old lady gave it to me, remember?"

"I know," His mother replied, "I just wanted to remind you we can't have any pets," At hearing a reply of any sort, she walked over and peered into the hall, "Did you hear me?" Takato looked back at her, "Whatever animal you have up in your room must've healed by now, so you're going to have to just…take it back, okay?"

Takato gave her a nervous smile and said, "Yes, mom."

Takako watched her son with a concerned look, wondering just want he's gotten himself into this time. Once safe outside and sure his parents were out of earshot, Takato called up to his window, "Guilmon, come down here please!"

However, he wasn't expecting the dinosaur to literally drop down on him with a laugh, causing him to fall over with a shriek. Thankfully, due to his quietness, it didn't alert anyone. "I said 'down here', silly," Takato informed in a gentle form of scold, "Not 'on me'."

"Oh, sorry," Guilmon said sheepishly as his tamer sat up and gave him an incredulous look. "Wow, for a one-day-old, you're heavy," Takato remarked. "Heck ya," Guilmon agreed obliviously to the unintentional insult.

Meanwhile, at the Shiota residence, Karu was finishing up her breakfast; scrambled eggs and toast with apple jam with a glass of water. "Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want to wait another day or two before going back to school?" Her father asked her from the dishes, concerned she was pushing herself too much, "I mean you were _just_ discharged yesterday."

"And I have way too much homework to catch up, bullies and snobs to put in their place and who's going to be watching Takato and Kenta's backs if I'm not there?" Karu reasoned back as she helped him, before smiling up at him, "Dad, I appreciate the concern, I really do, but so long as I don't push myself too much, I'll be fine."

"I know you'll be," He sighed, "I'm just worried about you; it's in my job description after all." She laughed with at his joke. "Oh, by the way, did you finish when do I start babysitting?" She asked she had found an add for a babysitting job for a nearby family, the pay was decent and it wasn't that many hours, also her father thought it would be good for her to spend time with others that weren't Takato or Kenta or occasionally a nice girl in her class named Jeri.

"In just a few days," Her father replied, "Mrs. Wong needs to get her schedule together first, then you can go meet Suzie for your first day."

Karu caught sight of the clock and said, "I better get going," She pecked his cheek and rushed out, calling, "Love you Papa!"

"Love you too!" He called back smiling, but there was a small tinge of sadness in his eyes as he glanced at a picture of himself when he was younger with two other teens, a girl with pinkish-purple hair and a boy with blonde hair and thought, 'I don't know how much longer I can do this…'

At the door, Karu blinked at hearing her dad's voice and backtracked into the dining room/kitchen, asking in confusion, "Did you just say something?" He looked at her and shook his head, he didn't breath a word. Karu looked very confused, but left with shrug. 'Must be me,' She thought.

Meanwhile, next to a construction site, Takato was putting up a barricade of cardboard in front of the end of an alley. "I'll just lean that up there and that there," He grumbled before noticing Guilmon trying to eat a piece of the cardboard, "Guilmon don't eat that!"

"Okay," Guilmon sighed as Takato sighed at finishing his work and had to stand on his tiptoes to see over the wall he had built. "Well, it's not pretty, but it should due," The shy brunette stated, satisfied with seeing no one nearby and with the wall so high no one could see him or more importantly Guilmon. Speaking of whom, Takato turned to and said, "Listen Guilmon, since you can't stay at home, you're going to have to stay here while I go to school, okay?"

"Go school?" Guilmon repeated in confusion with a cute tilt of his head. "Yeah, too bad they didn't have a class on Digimon or animal-care," Takato remarked more to himself with a small grin, "I'd be top of the class."

Takato then gave a more softer smile to his new friend as he said, "Now I can't take you to school, but when I get back, I'll introduce you to Karu and Kenta."

"Ka…ru…mon?" Guilmon asked innocently, "Ken…pa…mon?"

Takato nearly burst out laughing, "No, no, Guilmon, my friends aren't Digimon, they're like me; Karu and Ken _ta_."

"Karumon and Kenpamon!" Guilmon chirped happily, making Takato hang his head in defeat. "I give up," Takato muttered in defeat, before smiling at him despite himself, "When the three of us get here, we can play together all day, just the four of us, okay? You just have to stay in the box."

"Play now!" Guilmon exclaimed with a grin. "I wish I could, but Karu would kill me if I left her out of this," Takato stated, but then emptied his bag to dump all the bread rolls in front of a surprised, yet curious Guilmon, "Now, if you get hungry, eat this."

Guilmon gave a curious coo as he sniffed at the pile of bread that sat innocent on multiple newspapers, before looking at Takato in confusion. Figuring what was wrong, Takato smiled, "This is food, its called bread, you eat it, see?" He picked up a loaf on the top and took a big bite out of it with a smile chewing before swallowing, then pointed at the raptor, "Now you."

"Okay!" Guilmon smiled before plucking a loaf as Takato finished his. "Now just stay here and be quiet, and I'll see you soon with Kenta and Karu," Takato instructed as Guilmon ate the loaf and grinned happily, before proceeding to stuff himself with more bread as Takato climbed over the wall, "Bye Guilmon!"

But Guilmon never noticed his tamer leave as he made every last loaf disappear in less that five seconds and then exclaimed, "Want more!" But then noticed his tamer's absence, making him blink, "Takatomon?" Giving a sad whine, Guilmon howled like a dog in distress into the blue sky.

On her walk to school, Karu was humming softly to herself before looking at her left wrist where she had tied the red bandanna around her wrist like a scarf. She couldn't help but feel a little attached to whoever it was that helped her back in the hospital, she couldn't help but feel like she met him before. No sooner did she reach the school gates did a familiar searing pain entered her head making her hiss and lean against the gate in pain, 'Not…again…so soon…?'

Images of Digimon, real Digimon appeared in her head before her eyes. As this was happening, Takato was whistling a happy tune, imagining his friends reactions when he introduced them to Guilmon, but stopped when he noticed Karu leaning against the school gate, holding her head in pain. "Karu?" He asked moving closer, but she didn't seem to notice or hear him.

Karu winced as she saw strange Digimon wearing purple and gold armour invading the human word. A Digimon that resembled a tiger circled the top of a building, circling a large green and white bunny-like creature with blue pants, two gattling guns overtop his hands with three a horn and brown eyes, a large, yellow and white fox, and a large red dinosaur with big golden eyes. A giant white snake, a giant ox and ram, a humongous green boar, an equally humongous purple horse that stood on two legs and a weird monkey. 'What _are_ those things…?' Karu wondered, 'Are they Digimon…? But does that mean…? Is our world in danger…?' The questions made Karu world start to get blurry as she tried to fight the waves of dizziness.

"Karu…Karu, are you alright?" Takato asked in worry and in an almost perfect instant the blurriness that to fade away as she glanced at him, the pain and images slowly subsiding, "Another migraine?"

"Yeah, but nothing major," She assured with a slightly strained smile, but then noticed his goggles, "What's with the goggles, Baby Dragon? Not that I'm really complaining."

"Oh, these?" Takato asked blushing as he pulled at the band, "I'm gonna be…" He then pumped a fist, giving a soft shout, "A Digimon Tamer!"

"Oh, are you now," Karu teased lightly as they walked into the school grounds, "Does that involve Digi-taming gym class?" They both laughed at her joke. 'There they are!' Kenta's voice suddenly floated into Karu's head, making her blink before looking behind her to see him.

"Hey guys!" Kenta called running up to them. "Hey Kenta!" Takato greeted. "Hey Bluejay," Karu greeted as they let him catch up. "Any luck finding your missing digi-pet?" Kenta asked Takato, though he still didn't believe him about Digimon being real, but Takato had been so distracted during school the last few days, part of him wondered if it were true, but figured he was just thinking about Karu. 'If only he knew…' Takato thought making Karu blink. "Knew about what?" She asked much to Takato and Kenta's confusion.

"What…" Takato began but was cut off by the bell, "Oh, never mind, come on!" As they headed for the changing rooms, they never noticed a familiar box with an equally familiar coo coming from it appearing in the school gates.

"Ready?" Mrs. Saji called as gym class was at its mid-point, before blowing her whistle. The class was doing meter jumps wearing the white shirts and shorts that consisted the gym uniforms. Karu never liked uniforms period, the shorts for the girls were so much shorter and tighter than the boys, it made her think that people who blame girls for their own attacks from perverts were being hypocrites. Girls wouldn't have those problems if the schools didn't make uniforms for them that were so…skimpy. A reason she faugh with the principle until he let her wear the boys' shorts so long as she kept the girls' top.

Speaking of Karu, she was having a very odd day. She kept thinking she was hearing people talk when they were actually saying something else or their lips weren't moving at all. She was starting to think either her visions finally got to her or she was going insane…personally, she hoped it was the former.

She and Kenta, along with another kid had already done their jumps and they watched as Takato took a running start before jumping. "How'd I do?" Takato asked as one of their classmates, a girl named Jeri Katou, who had reddish-brown hair and matching eyes, measured his distance. "Just over three meters," She answered and Takato gave his usual quiet cheer.

"Don't get that excited, B.D.," Karu suddenly said, "I still beat you." He never liked it when she called him 'baby dragon' in public for self-explanatory reasons.

"Yeah, but some of us aren't super-humans," Kenta joked making everyone laugh, while Karu's was more sarcastic, until she noticed Takato suddenly looked panicked and was focusing on something behind them. Turning her head to see what he was looking at, Karu did a double-take, unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not because of her latest migraine; but she was sure she just saw a large box about up to her chest in height move past the gap between the two buildings. But judging from the look on Takato's face, she wasn't imagining it and had she not seen it, she would've laughed at his face.

'Someone please tell me I didn't just see that…' Takato thought in exasperated-disbelief. 'Yes, you did. Okay, what the _hell_ is going on here?' Karu thought rubbing her temples at hearing Takato's thought, instantly getting Kenta and Takato's attention, so she said, "Not a migraine."

But the action got her new accessory some attention. Eyes narrowed, a raven-haired girl with green eyes grabbed her wrist and asked, "Hey Shiota, I thought you weren't into girly things like accessories, where'd you get this?"

Not liking it when people grabbed her like that, Karu yanked her hand away and glared, "None of your business, Yuki." She felt strangely protective of the bandanna and she wasn't sure why, before she heard Yuki's voice say, 'What a weirdo.'

"I am not a weirdo, you stuck-up bitch!" Karu snapped earning startled looks, since she only cursed when she got really mad or annoyed. "What are you talking about?" Yuki asked. "I heard you!" Karu replied.

"Hey, where did you get that anyway? Doesn't look like something your dad would give you," Kenta remarked trying to stop a potential fight, making her sweat, unsure if she should tell them about the strange figure in her hospital room. "A nurse at the hospital gave it to me for good luck," Karu lied and it wasn't that far from the truth, ever since she got it, all the mishaps that happen during her migraines like bumping into things have stopped.

Once Kenta and everyone else wasn't paying attention, Karu frowned as she grabbed the back of Takato's shirt and yanked him backwards, making him squeak in surprise. "B.D., what on earth was that?" She asked him in her low dead-serious voice to show he'd better not lie to her, making him wince a little. "I'll tell you later, just not now," Takato hissed back.

Meanwhile, in the school, Guilmon (still in the box), was wondering the halls looking for Takato. "Takatomon?" He called unaware his tail was sticking out. "Yamazaki!" A male teacher yelled from a classroom, scaring the poor dinosaur so badly he jumped, "Let me ask you, have you _ever_ even made an _effort_ to do your homework the correct way?" He rose his rolled up book to smack the poor student on the head, when a loud thud in the hall got everyone's attention.

They all looked at the door in time to see Guilmon peering in through the door window, but all they actually saw was his eyes before he moved on once seeing Takato wasn't there. Having a fore boarding feeling mixed with wary, the teacher went to see what it was while telling the students strictly, "Nobody move."

Opening the door, he looked down the hall, then up, only to do a double-take when he saw a large, upside down box with a red tail sticking out disappear around a corner. He hummed in suspicion but gave a cry of shock when he noticed five deep claw marks on the door from Guilmon steadying himself against the door. He then slammed it shut, looking scared, much to his students' alarm.

"What was that Mr. Orimoto (1)?" A male student asked making their teacher snap out of his frightened state and remember he was still in class. "And now class, we discuss something important," Mr. Orimoto said before hanging his head, "What do you do when you start seeing things that aren't really there?"

In a different hall, the school principal was humming cheerful as he walked along, which was when Guilmon walked by. "Good morning cardboard box," The principal greeted before realizing what he just said and looked back with a frown as Guilmon plopped down, before realizing his tail was still sticking out and yanked it in.

Clearing his throat, he asked in a strict-voice, "Student?" Upon not receiving an answer, he continued, "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I'm in a box," Guilmon answered in innocent-obliviousness, making the principle chuckle a bit despite himself being reminded of much younger children. "What's your name?" He asked, only to yelp when the box turned around.

"Guilmon," The raptor replied, "What's your name?"

"Well, my friends…" The principle began, but then remembered his social status, "Hey, I am the principle, that is all you need to know. Now, what are you doing in the hall?"

"Play-time!" Guilmon answered in a happy voice, which made the principle frown deeper. "You shouldn't be playing, its time for class now!" He lectured before lightly tapping the box, "And what's with this cardboard box anyway?" He tried to pull it off, but Guilmon wouldn't let him, "Take it…off!"

"No!" Guilmon said insistently, "Takatomon stay in box until find Karumon and Kenpamon!"

"Oh, my back…" The principle groaned still trying to pull it off, "When you're in school…you obey the principle…" His face started to turn red, "So when I say take off the box, you take off the box! Understand?"

Guilmon hummed at this in thought, it did seem logical and to be honest, he didn't know any better. "He's a strong little fella…" The principle muttered, not seeing the change in Guilmon's expression golden eyes. "Okay!" Guilmon chirped suddenly letting go, causing the box and the principle to go flying backward, laughing with a grin.

The principle could only stared in shocked-alarm, frozen to his spot in fear at the sight of the red raptor and its teeth, even if it were few and small. "You fell down," Guilmon giggled as it extended its claw to him, "We play now?" But at not getting an answer, he tilted his head cutely, "Don't you want to play?" He leaned forward in greeting, "Hi!"

Forgetting the whole conversation about just wanting to play, the principle panicked and crawled away in fear, whimpering about monsters much to Guilmon's confusion, until he reached the fire alarm and pressed the button. The poor Digimon just sat there, very confused until he caught a sudden smell and smiled, it smelt similar to those breads, so he looked out a window to see the school kitchen, thinking maybe Takato would be there. "Takatomon!" He chirped before running off.

Back at the gym field, Mrs. Saji gasped at hearing the fire alarm. "What on earth?" Karu wondered as everyone stared at the main school building. "Did Hansuke set the chemistry lab on fire again?" Kenta asked. "I hope not," Jeri said in worry, but Takato had other thoughts.

"You kids stay here," Mrs. Saji told them, "I'll see what's going on!" With that, she ran off to see what was wrong, no one smelt any smoke so what could possibly be wrong? But judging from the look on Takato's face, Karu could tell he had a guess and she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Takato, are you okay?" Jeri asked causing him to blush up a storm. "Y-Y-Yeah…I…err…uh…ugh…" Takato stuttered at suddenly having everyone's attention on him, "I gotta go!" With that, he ran for the main building. "Takato, wait!" Karu shouted as she ran after him, "Mrs. Saji said to stay here!" Glancing back she called to Kenta, "Stay there!" The greenette nodded knowing she was serious.

"Oh dear, oh my, oh dear, oh my," Takato muttered panicking as he and Karu ran towards the commotion on the second floor, "Oh dear, oh my!"

"Takato, you sound more like a girl right now then I do," Karu informed sending him a look, "Plus you sound like a broken record."

"This is bad, very bad!" Takato said ignoring her, making Karu huff in annoyance. Meanwhile, the teachers and staff, minus the cooking staff, were speaking with the principle, who was telling them about Guilmon and was trying to convince them to call the police or someone. "I'm telling you, I saw this thing!" He insisted, never noticing the group of students behind him, he was clearly having a panic attack, "We have to call out the national guard, the army, the navy, the airport, the marines!"

"A talking dinosaur?" One of the male teachers asked incredulously as murmurs went about the crowd. "I hear the principle's finally gone crazy," A girl gossiped. "Well, I always suspected school was bad for your health," Her friend joked.

They never noticed that behind them, the 'doll' the blunette boy's sister was playing with stepped out from hiding to see what all the commotion was about. "How many times do I have to tell you Terriermon," The blue-haired boy hissed, "You have to stay hidden, come on!"

"Oh, I never get to have any fun!" Terriermon complained as he was pulled back into hiding by one of his long ears.

"Takato, slow down!" Karu shouted as she and Takato rushed up the stairs towards the commotion, before making their way through the gossiping kids. "Like there'd be an actual monster walking around the halls!" A guy scoffed which got Karu and Takato's attention, "As if!"

"A mon…ster?" Takato panted worried. 'Did he really find Guilmon?' Karu wondered, "Takato?" But she was still ignored. 'Please don't be Guilmon, please don't be Guilmon, please don't be Guilmon, please don't' be…' Takato prayed as they made their way to the front and both friends gasped, for it was Guilmon's box, the same box Karu had seen moving about outside, making him whisper in horror, "Guilmon…what have you done?" Karu looked at him in surprise.

"Takato…?" Karu said slowly, yet kept her tone low, but her friends eyes were glued to the box. "Where he did go?" She heard him mutter. "Where did who go?" She asked. 'I got to find him,' Takato thought. "Takato!" Karu exclaimed as tears fell down Takato's face and he ran off again, never noticing a certain blue-haired boy had noticed them, "Find who?"

"Guilmon…" Takato said softly as he went, getting both kids attentions. "Huh?" The blunette wondered eyes wide in shock. "He found him…" Karu said softly, but not soft enough to escape the blunette boy's ears before running after him, unaware of the boy's silver eyes on her.

"Guilmon!" Takato called as he and Karu ran out into the yard, "Where are you?"

"Takato!" Karu cried as she ran after him, "Wait a minute!" Getting fed up, she increased her speed and forced him to a halt by grabbing the back of his shirt, "I'm talking to you here!"

'What if I never find him again!' Takato thought it worry, making her gasp. "You…you really found him, didn't you?" She asked as he glanced up at her. "Yeah…I did, I was going to introduce you and Kenta to him after school…" He answered feeling close to crying.

"Where's all the food?" A female voice suddenly shouted making them gasp and run over to the school's kitchen building, which was adjoined to the cafeteria. Upon looking in, the two students gasped to see all the food trays were completely empty, not a crump in sight and they were scattered everywhere.

"Do you know how long it took to make the meat loaf dry and crusty?" One of the lunch ladies asked her co-worker in out-rage. "And my watery spaghetti-sauce is all gone!" Her co-worker added.

"Is that really a bad thing?" Karu whispered to Takato who gave the tiniest chuckle at her humour despite himself, but he wasn't that focused on her. "The chocolate cake!" A third lunch lady cried, "Think of the chocolate cake!"

"It's Guilmon alright…" Takato sighed hanging his head in exasperated-defeat. "It's definitely a Digimon at least, no creature on earth would eat that stuff," Karu said in a half-hearted attempt to joke, but Takato didn't laugh this time.

"Takato, what on earth happened the last time you saw him?" Karu half-demanded, half-asked. "I felt him in a makeshift hiding spot next to the construction site near my house…" Takato explained earning a smack to the head from Karu, "What was that for?"

"You idiot, you don't just leave a Digimon in such a public place, someone could've saw him!" Karu scolded him, "Just consider yourself lucky he had the common sense to remember the box! Besides, if he hadn't left and nobody found him, he might've starved to death, Digimon need an almost constant food source, didn't you pay attention to the Digimon's eating habits in Digimon 01 and 02?"

"I left a big pile of bread!" Takato replied much to her irritation. "And three little in-trainings cleared a whole bag of junk food in less than a minute," She retorted. "I couldn't leave him at home, my mom or dad would've gone snooping to see if I got rid of the 'injured animal' I brought up there after finding him," He tried to explain making her sigh in irritation.

'Why did he come here?' Takato thought his panic getting to him, 'Now everyone's going to find out about him and he'll be taken away from me for sure!'

"Now Takato, don't go losing your head," Karu said trying to keep his chin up, "There's no guarantee someone's found him, the police would be here if someone had."

Takato took a deep breath, finding some piece of mind as they walked away from the school kitchen in his friend's words. "Yeah, I guess you're right," He admitted though he was still a bit gloomy at not being able to find the dinosaur, before sighing, "Oh, Guilmon…why'd ya follow me here?"

Karu decided not to respond, knowing that sometimes people have the need to think aloud from time-to-time, she did it often enough. "Guilmon?" A new voice asked them, making them stop in their tracks and look over and Karu recognized the blue-haired boy from her arts class, it was the only class she didn't have with Kenta or Takato.

He was watching them with curiosity and concern in his grey eyes as he leaned with arms crossed against a doorway. "You said 'Guilmon', well, didn't you?" He questioned Takato who was tongue-tied, while Karu frowned a little at the boy's sudden change of attitude, as far as she's seen him he was only ever laid back usually quiet, in the 'no talking during class unless working on a project' type of quiet, not Takato's overly shy type of quiet, he never struck her as the prying type.

"I don't see how its any of your business," Karu said in a clipped tone. "Well, he's a Digimon, isn't he?" The boy said in response, not at all fazed by her tone, "Guilmon, I mean."

Both friends looked surprised, though for her credit, Karu didn't show hers as much as Takato did, but she did little to hide her suspicion. How could he possibly know that with little clues about what Guilmon could be? "How could you know that?" Takato asked stunned.

"Are they Digimon Tamers too?" A new voice asked and they gasped in shock when Terriermon revealed himself, a smile on the rabbit's face. "It's Terriermon!" Karu gasped in shock, 'No wonder he asked if Guilmon was a Digimon! He has a partner as well!'

"And he talked!" Takato gasped in addition. "No duh, genius," Karu muttered glancing at him, but no one seemed to hear her. "I-I-I don't believe it," Takato said in shock, cheeks reddening. 'In a way, I can,' Karu thought looking at it logically, 'I mean if Takato got a digi-egg, how many other kids had gotten partners?' Gazing at Terriermon, she was instantly reminded of the large rabbit-like creature from her latest vision, 'For once, I hope I'm wrong.'

"How?" Takato breathed snapping Karu out of her thoughts.

Terriermon just giggled before holding up a finger as if scolding the brunette boy as he said teasingly, "You must not be a pretty good tamer if you can't keep track of just one Digimon!" Karu gasped in shock at such blunt (not to mention rude) words, while feeling a sudden burst of shock, hurt and self-loathing that she knew wasn't hers when she heard Takato gasp as well, but not so much as shock but in hurt. It made her briefly blink, did she just feel Takato's emotions?

Apparently the blue-haired boy wasn't as amused with his Digimon's choice of words as he frowned at him and scolded, "Terriermon!"

"What? What?" Terriermon asked in confusion as he ran around his tamer, not noticing the watching brunettes were shaking (Karu in anger and Takato in sorrow), "Not my fault he stinks at it, right?"

"Well, you don't have to be so blunt and rude about it!" Karu snapped glaring, making Terriermon freeze with a look of fear on his face, much to hers and the boy's surprised-confusion as the dog-rabbit Digimon backed up behind his tamer in attempt to hide from her.

A very faint sobbing distracted the brunette girl to look at her friend to see he was on the verge of tears and followed his eyes to see a digivice that was identical to the girl from her vision and Takato's, only this was green instead of blue or red and was clipped to the boy's belt. "Baby Dragon…?" Karu said softly, moving to touch his shoulder.

"He's right…he's right…!" Takato sobbed in his soft voice, so soft Karu almost missed it, before he took off running, to her alarm. "Takato!" Karu cried in concern as she and the boy watched. 'Terriermon, I got to teach you the meaning of the word 'tact',' She heard the stranger think and she turned a glare on him, not noticing Terriermon cringe behind him. "And add 'rude' to that lesson, too!" She told him before leaving a stunned tamer behind with a very scared Digimon.

'Did she just read my mind?' Henry thought in confusion, but for looking down at Terriermon, 'And what did she do to make Terriermon so frightened? All she did was glare.'

"Terriermon?" He asked making the rookie blink as if snapping out of a trance and shake his head, confused as he looked around. "W-What happened?" The rookie asked. "You tell me," Henry replied. "It felt like I was under the influence of a…never mind," Terriermon said shaking his head, 'How did she do that?'

"Takato!" Karu cried as she ran after him, but he wasn't slowing down, "Takato! Damn for a quiet kid, he sure runs fast!"

'Terriermon's right! I can't even keep Guilmon out of trouble!' Takato thought berating himself, 'And now…he's gone! I'll never have a friendship like Terriermon has with his tamer! I don't even have a Digimon anymore!'

He cried out as he tripped, making Karu cry out in concern as she finally caught up. "Takato, are you okay?" She asked but then shook her head, "Never mind, stupid question…" She paused when she noticed he was still crying, "Takato look at me."

It took a moment, but he finally did. "Nobody's perfect, you know that, so you make mistakes, it's what makes you human," Karu said with a sad smile as she dried his tears, much like a mother would. "But…I lost Guilmon on my first day…" Takato muttered.

"You couldn't have known he'd follow you and I was wrong to scold you, and I'm sorry," Karu said, "Besides, you just got him, you can't know what to do just like that, you have to experience it, just like that kid is still doing."

"You…think so?" Takato asked. "I know so, learning from your mistakes is the best way to get through this, to keep trying," She advised, before standing and offering him a hand, "So, ready to keep trying?" Takato stared at her before softly smiling as he accepted her hand. "I…I can try," He said. "Great," She smiled helping him up, "Now, how are we going to find him?"

Takato hummed as he looked up at the sky, but then got an idea. "Wait, I think I know where he might be!" Takato said brightening up. "Really, where?" Karu asked.

"Guilmon's a lot like a really young kid," Takato explained, "If you were a kid and you saw big fluffy things in the sky, what would you do?"

"I'd try to get a closer look…" Karu said before it dawned on her, "The roof!" They took off once more, reaching the roof in what Karu was sure was record time.

"Ugh…huff…I'm getting out of shape!" She groaned as she and Takato panted, but looked up when she heard him gasp. She followed his eyes and gasped as well, for at the other end of the roof, staring up at the sky, was the red raptor creature from Takato's drawing with back strips and fin-like ears, which were down as he stared up at the sky.

"He's…he's real…" She breathed in awe. "Guilmon…?" Takato said ready to cry again, getting the raptor's attention and Karu tensed for a moment at seeing his slit-pupils, but upon spying her friend, his golden eyes became large and innocent, and not so scary as he cried out happily, before running towards them, or to Takato to be more pacific.

She gave a little smile as she watched Takato run towards Guilmon. "Guilmon!" Takato cried in relief. "Takatomon!" Guilmon exclaimed much to Karu's amusement as he suddenly jumped up and onto Takato's upper body, "Hi!" Causing him to knock his poor tamer over, before licking the boy's face.

"Okay, okay, boy, okay!" Takato cried before being allowed to sit up, "Guilmon…" Karu didn't need her visions or apparently new powers to know Takato was possibly crying again, he always was the most emotional out of their trio. "Hi…" Guilmon cooed innocently smiling, but Takato didn't smile back.

"Guilmon," Takato said hugging the surprised and confused dinosaur around the next. "What's wrong?" Guilmon asked pulling away in order to look at his tamer's face, "You're eyes are leaking Takatomon, why?"

Takato smiled as he wiped his tears away. "Listen, if…we're going to be Digimon and his tamer, then you have to listen to me more," Takato told Guilmon, reminding Karu how he would talk to the animals he would care for like they could understand him, "You got to try harder to stay out of trouble."

"Takato, he's a Digimon," Karu finally spoke up, "Trouble's part of their nature." The two humans shared a chuckle, while Guilmon looked hopeful. "Then…you'll play…with me?" Guilmon asked.

"Yeah," Takato nodded. "Takatomon?" Guilmon spoke up sounding as if talking about a stroll in the park, "I need a new box." That made both humans burst out laughing, but Guilmon then seemed to actually notice the human female and walked up to her curiously. He looked at her for a moment before smiling in an innocent way, "Pretty…"

Takato looked at her in amusement, while Karu blushed even if the compliment did come from a dinosaur with the brain of a six-year-old. "Not one word!" Karu growled at her friend, who made a zipping motion over his mouth, making her groan, while Guilmon just stood there confused, 'This is going to be a _long_ week!'

Me: And finished!

Tamers(sans Suzie): About time!

Me(pouting): Hey, cut me a break, I finally finished my first chapter to 'Sleep Viking and the Snow Wings'!

Rika: While slacking off playing Farm Up…

Me: It's a good game!

Takato: So, Karu does meet Guilmon early after all.

Me: Yeah, I thought on it and well, why not?

Henry: She also got some pretty interesting new powers.

Ryo: Yeah, reading minds and empathy, that's pretty amazing.

Kenta: What's empathy?

Me: It's a physic ability that allows a person to feel other people's emotions and be able to tell what that person is either feeling or possibly thinking.

Jeri: Did she get these powers because of the seizure?

Me: Maybe.

Rika: Why is Karu getting powers and no one else.

Me: Well, for one thing, it's always the goggle-heads or the lone-wolves who get all the special attention or usually its them or one of girls, so I thought 'why not make Kazu a more active and a bit more unique character?' And the other reasons are secret for now.

Terriermon: Does that include how she got me to be so scared?

Me: That would be telling, now wouldn't it? Next up, Guilmon VS Renamon round 1! Please review and remember the golden rule!

Kazu: Want me to say it?

Me: Sure, go ahead.

Kazu: NO FLAMING!


	6. Chapter 6

Me: Hey, everybody, I'm back~!

Kazu: Oh no…

Rika: Suck it up, Kazu

Ryo: Don't you mean Karu?

Kazu: Shut up, Ryo!

Takato: Kazu don't start a fight.

Me: Man, it's getting crowded in here! So, from where we last left off, Takato finally found Guilmon and Karu met him. Well, with further delay, take it home Kenta!

Kenta: Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or any of its original characters.

Me: What can you do? And here we go!

* * *

Chapter 6: New Friends and Pains

After finally managing to smuggle Guilmon out of the school unnoticed, Karu and Takato (after changing out of their gym clothes), managed to sneak him into the much more secluded part of the park. "Huh, somewhere around here should do it," Takato said as they walked towards a hill, taking note of the big lack of people around, "Barely anyone comes around here."

"Yeah, until they actually do," Karu pointed out, just because people rarely come this far into the park doesn't mean they don't, "We need a more permanent solution that doesn't involve turning Guilmon into a digi-egg." This made him sigh, she did have a point…per usual.

However, a sudden burst of excitement made Karu nearly trip, while a sudden loud movement made Takato look back and laugh, "Guilmon stop that!" Curious, Karu looked back and covered her mouth with her hand with a laugh to see Guilmon had been chasing a terrified squirrel.

"But if we're not here to chase squirrels, why are we here?" Guilmon asked innocently as he followed the two up the stairs that went up a hill, "I like squirrels."

"We need a place for you to hide out while we're at school and I'm at the pet shelter," Takato said. "And when I start my new job," Karu added as a reminder to Takato that she too would soon have an after school activity to be doing.

"And this seems like a good choice since not a lot of people come here," Takato finished. "Hmm," Guilmon said as he paused to sniff a purple flower, "Pretty."

After reaching the top, they walked along side a metal fence, Takato being deep in though and Karu was keeping a sharp watch for people out of the corners of her eyes, Guilmon tagging along behind them. "Oh, this feels to out in the open," Takato said in distaste at the lack of hiding places the area had, "Where can we hide you?"

But then, Karu felt her heart tighten as her ears twitched, she instinctively narrowed her eyes as she inched her head to the side to see what caused this odd feeling, gritting her teeth with a dark growl. At the same time, Guilmon growled as his eyes turned wild and more reptilian, turning his head in the same way. This caught Takato's attention just in time to see a yellow, white-tipped leg land a strong kick right to the side of Guilmon's head, sending the poor dinosaur right into the fence.

"Hey!" The goggle-head shouted, while Karu jumped in front of the fallen dinosaur, eyes dark and narrowed with anger as she brought her fists up.

"What a wash lousy fighter," A familiar female voice drawled, making the two humans gasp as Karu's eyes lightened a little as she recognized the voice.

Standing by a nearby tree, was Rika, who they both recognized from the dream-like vision they (unknowingly to Takato) shared. "But a fight's a fight," The redhead said stoically with an un-emotionally expression.

"But…but I…I dreamt you," Takato stuttered in shock, making the redhead raise an eyebrow in confusion, but dismissed it as Renamon crouched in the tree branches above her. "So what, its time to fight," Rika said, "So clam up," She raised her arm toward her Digimon, "Renamon," She brought it down, pointing to the trio, "Walk all over him."

But poor Guilmon was literally seeing stars from being so dizzy from the kick and at realizing the intent of the girl's words, Karu suppressed her essential shock at actually seeing the girl from her vision and internal fear of the coldness of the girl who had deleted that poor Lynxmon in cold blood. She then felt Takato's immense panic.

"Hey, he's in no condition to fight!" Karu snapped causing the girl to actually notice her, "Your Renamon hit him so hard I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually seeing stars right now!"

"Not our fault he's such a lousy tamer he never saw her coming," The girl responded nocturnally, much to Karu's annoyed-anger as she tightened her fists as Takato flinched and looked crestfallen, "Now am-scray, you're obviously no tamer, so I have no use for you, Cave-girl."

"No u…? What are you some female Digimon Emperor?" Karu shouted her anger slowly creasing as the wind began to whip around them and Takato was the only one to notice the already bent metal of the fence Guilmon had crashed into started to bend even more, "And who are you calling 'Cave Girl'?"

'What the?' Takato thought confused. "And Takato is no lousy tamer, he just got Guilmon barely a week ago!" Karu continued her voice boarder-line shouting.

"Then like Tamer, like Digimon," The girl replied hardly fazed and ignoring Karu's 'cave-girl' question, "He's at least a Rookie, right?"

This made the two of them pause and share an unsure glance, Karu's stance drooping a bit, unable to think of a clever comeback. "Um…ugh…" Karu said unsure what to say, before they looked at the now recovered raptor. "Well…." Takato said as said Digimon just shrugged, not knowing the answer himself making Karu face-palm, "I'd have to guess so," He turned to look a the redhead his shy, quiet demeanour made her raise an eyebrow, "I honestly don't know, he's not exactly a normal Digimon."

"And why's that?" The she-tamer asked hand on her hip. "Um…well…" Takato said unsure how to explain how Guilmon came to be, Rika took this as a sign of lack of knowledge.

"Oh, how clever," She muttered in annoyance, earning a poisonous glare from Karu, which she pointedly ignored before saying to her partner, "Renamon." She then stepped back as Renamon walked forward menacingly, Karu immediately felt Takato's previously calmed panic return tenfold as her own battler's instincts got kicked into overdrive as she resumed her kick-boxer's stance.

"No, oh no; wait, wait!" Takato meekly shouted, while waving his arms, "Call her off, we don't wanna fight!"

"I knew you were a weak, mousy little boy with a pet Digimon!" Rika said unimpressed, "I'm surprised Fighter over there isn't the tamer; what do you think Digimon were made for?"

"Ugh, to be our friends?" Karu asked in a mocking, unimpressed tone that actually made Rika growl at her in annoyance for both the jab and not moving. "Karu…" Takato whispered with an immense feeling of dread.

"Oh, for Azlongmon sake, let's just get this over with!" Renamon said impatiently, never noticing a small, bright pink light hidden within one of her arm-bracers as she leapt into the air, "Now get out of the way, foolish girl!"

As Renamon prepared her Diamond Storm, eerily reminding both Takato and Karu of the vision, Takato's panic grew, mixing with Karu's own. "Oh no!" Takato shouted, "Guilmon, Hikaru; get out of the way!"

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon called out even though Karu didn't move. Alarmed, Takato grabbed the girl and yanked her away just in time to avoid being impaled by the sharp, glowing crystals, Guilmon, however, just stood there, his tough, diamond-hard hide acted like natural armour.

"Listen for once!" Takato whisper-yelled as he clung to a highly-startled Karu, who finally realized what would've happened had Takato not grab her.

However, Guilmon rose his head out of the smoke, eyes narrowed and dilated as he called out, "Pyro Sphere!" And fired a plasma ball at Renamon as she landed on a tree branch. Renamon was quick to dodge, causing the blast to take out part of the tree trunk.

"Or not," Takato whimpered as he clung to Karu, who's eyes were wide as she realized the similarities between Renamon and the fox in her recent vision as well as Guilmon and the other large red dinosaur Digimon.

As Renamon launched herself at Guilmon, who just stood there, she couldn't help but wonder, 'Who is this guy?' But then she finally noticed the glow and gasped, 'What?' She glanced over at the girl she nearly hit with her Diamond Storm.

Meanwhile, Rika was holding her Digivice and was looking at the same hologram Takato had when he was searching for Guilmon, only instead of a red pointer, it was showing her a picture of Guilmon. However, large red letters spelt out 'Digimon Unknown', much to her annoyance.

"Come on, some time today," Rika groaned in annoyance, "Why does it not have any data on Petmon over there?" She looked over and frowned, "What a pick of junk!"

Guilmon jumped up to meet Renamon's lunge halfway, sending both Digimon in a heap on the ground. When they started to roll around, Guilmon bit onto one of Renamon's arm-guards, which was incidentally the one that the glow was coming from. Renamon growled with effort to try and pry Guilmon off before he damaged the precious item hidden within her guard.

As this happened, Takato and Karu could only watch with wide eyes. "Guilmon, please!" Takato called out. "Takato…" Karu said as she noted the wild look in those once innocent-filled eyes, "I don't think he remembers we're here."

Fed up with the struggled, Rika fished out a card from the pouch that was on the back of her belt. "That's just plain sloppy, Renamon!" Rika said as the two took notice of what she was doing. "What now?" Karu asked.

Rika swiped the card through the slot on the Digivice, creating a pure white light, casting multiple shadows around her in a circle as she shouted, "Digi-modify! Armour activate!"

Takato could only gape, while Karu's eyes widened in alarm as Renamon's free paw turned into a metal cannon, which she aimed at Guilmon's head, but the dinosaur didn't seem to notice. "Guilmon…" Karu whispered in horror.

She was surprised when Takato yelled, "RUN AWAY! I'M BEGGING YOU!"

Rika however, smirked wickedly as she thought to herself, 'That's more like it.' Thinking with one blast, Guilmon would be finished. Hearing these thoughts made something in Karu snap as she turned her now growing her on the redhead.

"You…" Karu growled eyes flashing dangerously, before yelling, "You cold-hearted witch!" Rika looked over just in time with wide, surprised eyes to see Karu run at her and punch her in the face, sending the startled redhead flying onto the ground, before she could say anything, Karu tackled her and they started to roll around like the two Digimon were, scratching and pulling each other's hair.

"Karu, not you too!" Takato said miserably torn between who to help, before looking at Guilmon and whimpered once more, "Just when its my turn to be right, no one listens to me."

However, hearing this seemed to snap Guilmon out of it as he finally let go of Renamon's forearm, much to the fox's relieved-surprise as his eyes turned normal again. "Takatomon?" Guilmon said turning away from the fox, but she adjusted her aim, but he still didn't notice the cannon, "Was I not listening again?" He then ran towards his tamer just in time to avoid the airy blast of the cannon, which sent Renamon flying backward a bit, "I'm sorry, we play now?"

At this point, Rika had rolled herself over so she was on-top of Karu, who had a firm grip on a strand of her messed-up hair with one hand and pushing on her lower jaw with the other, while Rika herself had a grip on the girl's shirt and the other hand was on the ground by the girl's head to help the redhead support herself. At seeing this change of events, she called to her Digimon, "Renamon, now's your chance, don't mess this up!" She yelped at being pulled harshly by her hair by Karu who rolled them again so she was back on-top.

Renamon just stood there, both perplexed and surprised to see Rika doing the actual fighting, since she's never seen her tamer fight with anyone that wasn't necessary. Guilmon finally noticed the fight and titled his head curiously, while asking, "Takatomon, why is Karumon fighting that lady?"

Takato sweat dropped when Rika managed to squirm out of the brunette's grasp, only to be tackled by the enraged girl again. "I wonder if I should stop this," He said more to himself.

"I wouldn't if I were you," A familiar voice suddenly said, making the two Digimon and Takato look over to see it was the blue-haired boy and his Terriermon up on the hill. Sliding down in a rather cool-fashion, he added, "A wiseman once stated 'its very smart to never get involved in a cat-fight'." Takato stared at him dumbfounded, almost falling over.

"I-I-I-It's y-you!" Takato stuttered both surprised and shocked, surprised to see him and shocked by what he had said. "It's me, it's him; it's us!" Terriermon said with glee as he walked over as if two girls were having a petty brawl a few feet away, "Aren't you happy to see us?" He then said to Renamon, "You were pretty good out there, but you must've felt kind of silly, rolling around in the dirt like that!"

Renamon just stared at the little thing with wide eyes as if unable to believe her ears. "It's not exactly smart to mouth off to someone that's bigger than you," His tamer said wisely with a strained smile. "Henry, momentai!" Terriermon responded making the blue-haired boy, Henry Wong, to roll his eyes before looking at the girls with a wince as Karu landed a good punch on Rika again.

"What are they fighting about?" He asked raising an eyebrow as Rika elbowed Karu in the face, but the brunette girl didn't seem to register the hit, a murderous expression on her face that honestly scared even Rika and Renamon.

"No clue, Rika summoned that cannon and not a second later Karu called her witch and went AWAL," Takato answered looking rather unsure about to do, "She only does this when someone calls her the g-word or is stupid enough to try and hurt me or our friend Kenta." Henry raised an eyebrow at that.

It's not often you see a girl whose friends with two boys instead of being around girls, let alone a girl who didn't seem to mind picking fights. In all honesty he admired a girl who wasn't afraid to stick up for herself, but he was really concerned about how far Karu would let her anger go.

"Dark Angel, please…" Takato whimpered as he watched his friend fight with a girl they just met, "STOP!" He yelled this, surprising Henry since he hardly heard Takato so much as raise his voice before from the few times he's been around him, but his eyes widened upon seeing the tears that threatened to fall. Did seeing Karu like this really upset him that much?

At hearing the yell, just as she was about to punch Rika again, Karu's eyes widened as she finally got a grip on herself and blinked owlishly, as if coming out of a trance, before taking in the bruises on not just herself, but on Rika and the angry scratches. Not to mention the messy tangles from pulling on Rika's hair.

She looked over and was surprised to see Henry and his Terriermon, but upon seeing Takato's teary face, her anger disappeared as she lowered her arm and got off Rika, who scrambled away. "Takato…I…" She said in an almost quiet voice as she walked over, she hadn't meant to go so far that she nearly beaten the other girl.

"What were you all fighting about anyway?" Henry asked looking from Karu to Rika, who had been joined by Renamon, who was concerned for her tamer. "Well, what else are they suppose to do?" Rika asked him while pushing some hair from her face, "As for Cave Girl, who knows what set her off."

"How about the fact you were about to shoot Guilmon in the head for no good reason!" Karu nearly shouted as she shot the other girl a harsh glare, before noticing Takato flinch and instantly calmed down, pulling the goggle-boy into a tentative hug. They were surprised when Guilmon pushed himself between them, wanting to join the hug and cheer Takato up, which worked as Takato smiled brightly.

"Besides, Digimon can do whatever they want to," Henry added to Rika smiling a little at the interaction, "Their not our pets or slaves; their our friends!" He smiled as Terriermon climbed up his pets before pulling the Digimon into his arms, "They just wanna do the same things we do."

"Well, Renamon wants to fight," Rika stated as she fixed her hair before turning away, "So do I for that matter."

"Funny, you didn't seem to wanna fight me when I attacked you," Karu remarked earning a poisonous look from Rika, but she ignored it in favour of petting Guilmon, who purred at the attention. With that the female duo walked away, vanishing behind a hedge as they watched.

"Well, that went well," Takato said with a helpless shrug, much to Henry's disbelief, while Karu snorted and the two remaining Digimon giggled.

"Baby Dragon, you really are to nice for your own good," She stated matter-of-factly, making him blush while Henry raised an eyebrow at the nice name. "Baby Dragon?" He and Terriermon asked in amusement. "Because he mostly uses Dragon-Type cards," Karu answered before giving an uneasy smile as she remembered their previous encounter, "And…sorry, about before."

Both tamer and rabbit-Digimon grimaced a little as they too remembered the encounter, but for different reasons, before focusing their attentions elsewhere. "Nah, no biggie, I guess I kind of deserved it for letting Terriermon's behaviour get like that," Henry said with an assuring smile that he wasn't really offended by her snap as Terriermon climbed onto Guilmon's head, making the raptor laugh.

"So, you two are Hikaru and Takato, right?" Henry said wanting to make sure he got their names right. "That's right, but I prefer Karu," She answered as they continued searching for a hideout for Guilmon and upon following a stone staircase, they found it. It was an abandoned little place, probably an old, forgotten shed of shorts.

"We have some classes together, right?" Henry asked again. "Well, I've seen you plenty of times in my Arts Class," Karu replied. "And I've only seen you back at the school when…" Takato said trailing off as he looked at his Digimon Partner. "When Guilmon got board and came looking for ya," Henry finished for him with a chuckle.

"His own fault, leaving him at a construction site," Karu remarked frowning at her friend, who had the decency to look sheepish. "Really?" Henry asked raising an eyebrow at the male brunette. "It was the only thing I could think of at the time," Takato mumbled blushing up a storm, much to the two's amusements.

"Well, I'm Henry," The blunette smiled.

"I'm just sorry you had to see that," Karu said referring to her fight with Rika, "I honestly don't know what came over me."

"I've seen my older sister do worse, believe me," Henry assured with a wary chuckle. "I just don't get it though," Takato said as he watched Guilmon bounce Terriermon on his tail, "I mean, just look at them! How can that girl think their just here to fight? They remind me of the little cute critters back at the shelter."

"Expect they could probably eat the shelter out of business with their two stomachs alone," Karu joked as she leaned against the wall, while Takato sat on the cold floor, Henry standing next to him, hands in his pockets, "Maybe now the cafeteria staff with start putting on a lock."

"Hey, he probably saved our lives," Henry joked back giving a lopsided grin, "It was only a matter of time before they poisoned us!" This made all three of them laugh as he helped Takato up and had to admit, as tough a girl as Karu was, she was actually a nice person to be around, unlike the rumours he heard about her. To be honest he really wanted to ask her how she knew about him planning to give Terriermon a lesson in behaving properly, but wondered if Takato knew about her apparent ability, so he decided to keep the questions to himself for now.

"Now there's an idea!" She gigged her laugh like a little golden bell, "Maybe Guilmon can be our taste-tester!" This made the two chuckle along with her.

A shout made them look to see Guilmon had accidentally flung Terriermon right onto his head. "But then, we'd go hungry," Takato joined in much to their mirth.

"Hey, I'm hungry," Terriermon said from atop Guilmon's head. "But you just ate!" Henry said in disbelief and his partner just stared at him. "And your point is…?" The smaller Digimon asked before rolling down Guilmon's front while saying, "Momentai!" He then ran up and jumped onto Henry's back, clinging onto his vest with his little paws.

"Okay, dinner time," Henry chuckled before beginning to leave. As the remaining trio watched Guilmon suddenly nudged his tamer's friend, surprising her as he said, "Takatomon, Karumon, I'm hungry too."

"Oh no!" Karu said playfully "Look what you've started!"

"Hey, what does momentai mean anyway?" Takato asked as politely as possible. Instead of Henry answering, Terriermon did, "Haven't you caught onto it by now, it means 'take it easy'!" As they watched the duo walk away, Guilmon let out a purr as he nuzzled his tamer, making the remaining two humans laugh.

"I should be getting home too," Karu said with a thoughtful smile, "Don't want to give Dad another heart attack."

"You won't want me to walk you home?" Takato asked her. "Shouldn't that be my line, Mr. Unbeatable?" Karu teased while nudging him playfully, making him blush in embarrassment as he remembered that she took on four high-school boys by herself and came out without so much as a scratch or bruise.

"Just be careful," Takato requested. "No promises!" She said in a sing-song voice as she headed off, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to wave at the duo for a moment before running off again.

Takato smile before realizing something and shouted, "Wait, how are you going to..." But seeing she was already gone, made him finish quietly, "Explain those bruises to Mr. Shiota..." He sighed.

As Karu walked down the empty-ish streets towards her home, her mind played over today's events and realized that aside from the vision when she was entering the school, she had no other migraines or even remotely similar episodes today since. Though she had to admit being able to feel others emotions and hearing their thoughts was rather creepy and odd, since it never happened before. Let alone having a violent episode like that for such a small reason.

As Karu mused on today's events, she never noticed two different figures watching her. One being Impmon, who was watching her from above on a lamp-post. He wasn't sure why he's been watching over the girl since the episode at the hospital, but there was something about her that drew him in, made him want to make sure she's okay, something he hadn't felt since he left the twins. He was honestly surprised to see her wearing his bandanna on her wrist but in an odd way, it made him crack a smile, never noticing the same pink glow coming from beneath his glove like it had Renamon's.

The other figure, however, was hidden well within the shadows high atop a building, in his hand was a little silver badge with a single pink crystal in its center with two little pale yellow wings. It too was glowing pink just like whatever was hidden in Impmon's glove, only his had an ever lower dim. The figure looked from the badge to the girl as she went inside a human training facility and hugged a young human male with longish-brown hair and eyes.

Giving Impmon a knowing, yet wicked grin, the figure vanished leaving not a trace of itself behind accept a single wet boot print on the alley floor.

* * *

Me: Whew, that took forever!

Rika: You weren't exactly helping yourself you know.

Me: Hey, people wanted 'Sleeping Viking and the Snow Wings' and 'Siren' updated, how could I say no?

Rika: *groans*

Takato: So we've met Rika...

Kazu: And I totally handed her butt to her!

Kenta: Someone's had a change of heart!

Takato: Not to mention re-introduced Henry and Terriermon.

Me: Yeah, and Impmon, but who was that other figure? Well, that's for later.

On that note, I have the current results of my poll:

Myotismon and Ranamon are tied for first with 1 and everyone else hasn't been voted for yet, so who will be Karu's new partner? The repenting vampire or the legendary warrior of water? Or will it be the former demon lord of pride? The former henchman or the former she-devil? It all up to you guys!

Till next time!

Ryo: And remember the golden rule!

Everyone: NO FLAMING!


	7. Chapter 7

**Me: I'm back~~~~!**

 **The tamers and their Digimon: Finally!**

 **Me(pouting): Oh don't be mean, I've been busy!**

 **Rika: Yeah with all those new stories, you have been busy.**

 **Takato: Plus the writer's block last week**

 **Kazu: So what's happening in this chapter, oh miss insane of mind? *smacks with frying pan* OW! Hey, I meant that as a compliment!**

 **Me: Yeah, well, next time keep them to yourself! Anyway, last time, Karu kicked Rika's butt…**

 **Rika: Hey!**

 **Henry: She kinda did…**

 **Me: And Renamon, Impmon and the mystery figure all have the same little badges. What do they mean? What are they for…? Read to find out. Now take it away Leomon!**

 **Leomon: Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or its original characters.**

 **Me: A girl can dream though; here we go!**

Chapter 7: New Job, New Student

That night was eventful to say the least; Mr. Shiota went ballistic at seeing all the bruises and scratches on his daughter. Karu had to bend the truth about what happened but thankfully he knew about her and her friends' situation with the whole 'have yet to lose' thing and believed her about defending Takato.

At least the following morning went pretty well, she had no headaches like she usually did. Kenta was allowed to buy lunch today and Takato was feeling pretty good himself since his mother made him a handmade lunch.

Karu was running a bit late so Kenta and Takato wisely stayed clear of their usual bullies and challengers. They decided to kill time by playing a friendly round of Digimon.

Takato suddenly grinned, "You fell right into my trap!" He placed down a MetalMeramon card, making Kenta groan, "I win again!"

Kenta groaned, "Per usual…"

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late," Karu said as she walked over and the two finally noticed how quiet the playground suddenly was, "Dad was being a photo-freak again."

"It's fi…!" Kenta began before he looked at her and his jaw fell open. "Wha…" Takato began noticing before looking at their female friend and his jaw fell open as well, shocked.

Karu had exchanged her usual muscle shirts and shorts for a lovely _dress_ that was a dark blue with thin sleeves that fell a little past her tights with a loose black belt that hung under one hip, studded with shiny black rhinestones. She wore a pair of black leggings with white hearts on the outside of her shins and a pair of wedge-heel sandals that were a dark brown with lighter straps. For accessories, she wore a light, whitish-blue ascot around her neck, Impmon's bandana around one wrist and on the other was a few blue, pink and orange bangles, a little blue crescent moon hairclip held her bangs out of her face.

"Ugh…I look stupid, don't I?" She asked highly embarrassed with how she was dressed and how the other kids looked at her when she arrived.

Kenta and Takato could only openly stare, having never seen their friend dress so…femininely before. Karu was actually really pretty, it surprised them that they only just noticed how just how much so till now. Karu, however, shifted uncomfortably under their stares.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," She groused, "Trust me, that's how my dad thinks."

"S-Sorry!" The two squeaked faces bright red. "I-I-It's just…y-you loo-look really pretty…" Takato told her and her face flushed and it was then that they noticed she was also wearing a little makeup! Karu Shiota was wearing MAKEUP!

As little as it was, it was there. She had a light touch of light, greyish-blue eyeshadow that seemed to glitter with silver and she had a trace of lip gloss on her lips giving their natural soft, rosy pink color a shimmery effect.

"…you're lucky you're my brother, Baby Dragon," Karu stated as she sat down. "What's the occasion?" Kenta asked a small smile on his face, "Is Thomas down again?"

"No," She answered with a roll of her eyes, "It's my first day of that babysitting job I told you about and I wanted to make a good impression but…" She pulled at her belt a bit with a frown, "I think my dad went a too it little far…"

"It's better then nothing," Kenta shrugged. "Besides, could've been worse," Takato added, "He could've put you in those high-heels your aunt sent you." Karu shuddered at the thought.

"So Takato, how's Guilmon holding up?" She asked trying to subtly change the subject. While noticing what she was doing, he went along with it, knowing how uncomfortable the subjects of clothes and appearance was for her. He answered, "I left him some bags full of bread and a bit of fruit, I just hope he stays there this time."

"I still think this whole Digimon is real thing is crazy," Kenta said earning a scowl from the usually tomboy-dressed girl, "But since Dark Angel here believes you, I'm giving it a benefit of a doubt." She smiled at this.

As they filed into the class room, Karu did her best to ignore the whispering kids were doing about her change in wardrobe. Some had the nerve to outright comment towards her about her wearing a dress, but she chose to either keep the answer short or not give an answer at all.

"Hey, did you hear?" One boy said in a change of subject as the three friends took their usual seats, "There's a new student joining the class today!"

That peeked the trio's interest. New students weren't very common for their school, especially not around this time of the year. "I hear he or she isn't even from Japan," A girl said, "But from America."

"America?" Karu muttered to her friends, they just shrugged. "It's happened before," Kenta pointed out.

"I hear they're very cute, Americans always are!" Yuki giggled to her friends making them and the boys with the group to roll their eyes, "Especially the clueless ones!"

"You'd relate," Karu muttered disdainfully earning a frown from Takato and a chuckle from Kenta. "I hear whoever they are is a bit cold," A guy said, "Doesn't smile and when they do its painfully fake."

The last bell rang and everyone rushed to their seats as Mrs. Saji came in, "Settle down class, everyone in their seats," Once the last student sat down, she said, "Thank you; now as I'm sure some of you have probably heard, we have a new student joining us," As turned to the door and called, "You can come in now!"

When the kid entered, Karu felt an immediate dark, cold tidal wave hit her internally, so hard she was surprised it didn't knock her out of her seat. She never though such…coldness could exist. She could only describe it as depression; a deep, hollow sadness that seemed to be the overall feeling of whatever she felt. There was a deep grove of hurt and betrayal underneath fuelled with an underline of anger and utter…nothing. She couldn't describe it any other way.

She shook her head and turned to look at the person as she heard Yuki and almost all the girls in class start giggling and whispering. It was a boy their age with fair skin with short, pale gold hair that fell down to the nape of his neck in the back. His bangs were fringed with two small locks curling upward above his bangs and two longer locks fell to his chin. His eyes from what she could tell were blue, but she tried not to look at them directly. She didn't know why, but something was telling her not to make contact with him.

He was clearly not Japanese, but something told her he wasn't American either. He was dressed in a pair of faded jeans with a white dress shirt under a nice, thin black vest with a silver chain around his neck with a matching belt and dress shoes. Despite how nice he was dressed, there was something off about him and it made her edgy.

"Class, this is Lucius Soto," Mrs. Saji introduced, "Lucius, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself."

"Well, there's not much to tell," The boy, Lucius, replied in a charmingly smooth voice that sounded polite, it made girls blush a little, while it sent a shiver down Karu's back, "I was born in Italy but my parents moved to America shortly after for business, then we moved here a while ago."

"Well, there must be something else you'd like to say," Mrs. Saji said with a kind smile. Lucius seemed to think before his eyes swept over the group of students and Karu instantly lifted up her copy of 'Romeo and Juliet' to hid her eyes and face, unsure why she didn't want to make eye-contact.

For some reason, another shiver over came her as she could feel someone's stare on her and she didn't like it as she felt a strange heat and want that wasn't her own. She snapped out of it as she registered the new kid's voice, "…been feeling a bit…empty lately; guess I'm just one of the few who's looking for that…special someone earlier then others."

Karu rolled her eyes as she heard the inedible, not-so-soft squeals of her female classmates. Why were girls so expectable to new boys…? Or boys in general for that matter?

"Sounds like the perfect next victim for my charm, eh, Akimi?" She heard Yuki whisper with a wicked smile to her friend.

Yuki Sarato and Akimi Furimozu were the biggest flirts in school. Karu was ashamed to admit she was once considerably friendly with them when they first started school and they were both shy and naïve. But of course, peers and life came along, and they turned into the worse girls Karu had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing.

They were the ultimate girly-girls, they were pretty and they knew it. Yuki had natural strawberry-blonde hair that she usually had in twin braids with her fringed bangs held in place with a mint-green headband with daisies on it and boys were often mesmerized by her bright green eyes. Akimi had short, curly red hair pulled into a high-ponytail with golden-amber eyes and always had parts of her hair held up with blue hairclips. They considered themselves the most fashion forward of their year and the most popular.

"I don't know Yuki," Akimi giggled back just as quiet, "He just might fall for me." Karu just rolled her eyes behind her book. She just couldn't believe those two sometimes.

She then heard Mrs. Saji, "Well, there's plenty of time to find that 'special someone', so I wouldn't get too serious about it, enjoy being young while you can; in the mean time, I'm sure you'll find a few friends."

"I hope so…" Lucius responded with a strange tone of voice, to the untrained ear it would seem polite to her advice, but there was an odd sense of…slime. Having no way to describe it, that coy, slick type of voice someone who had an ulterior-motive.

She then froze when she heard Mrs. Saji say mentally, 'Now an empty seat…' She noticed the only two empty seats were by the window and next to her, seeing as Kenta sat on the other side of her and Takato behind her. She prayed to whoever was up there that she didn't set him next to her.

Of course, life chose now to put her good day down into the ground. "How about you take the seat next to Miss Shiota?" Mrs. Saji said unknowingly making the poor girl the subject of almost every girl's glare, while said girl flinched, "Hikaru, how's about putting the book down and holding up your hand so Mr. Soto knows where to sit?"

Karu winced even more at hearing her real name and hesitantly put the book down, put kept her eyes on the desk as she slowly raised the hand with the bandana. Kenta and Takato took in her behaviour with confused, but concerned expressions. Karu was never so nervous before, especially when the kid was so frail looking she could easily kick his butt all the way back to America.

Kenta then noticed the wicked, leering way this Soto kid looked at his sister-figure and glared at him in warning, not liking the look at all. Lucius seemed to notice and a bit of surprise flickered through his gaze before he schooled it with an innocent one and just raised an eyebrow at him, though Kenta shivered as a strange, dark feeling over came him, a heavy feeling growing in his chest, as if trying to beat his anger into submission.

Despite all this, he could've sworn he's seen that face somewhere before…but for the life of him, he couldn't remember where…

Karu kept her gaze on her desk until she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back into worried, cherry-red eyes as Takato whispered, "You okay?"

She smiled back strained as she whispered back, "Fine."

"Alright then class, it's time to get back to our reading aloud of Shakespeare's timeless classic; Romeo and Juliet," Mrs. Saji announced as a few kids groaned once Lucius sat down, "Have you heard of it, Lucius?"

"It's actually really popular back at my old town," Lucius answered as he accepted the extra copy that was relayed over to him across the class. When Karu handed it to him, she refused to look up from her desk, Lucius smirked a little as he placed his hand over hers and Karu's head snapped up with surprised-shock as she felt her hand go numb in three seconds flat.

She yanked her hand away, causing the book to fall on the floor as she looked up at him instinctively. Her eyes widened as her icy-blues met his own and she was unaware of both glowing a little. Karu felt she was drowning as images assaulted her. Dozens, maybe hundreds or thousands of Digimon, all real, clashing and battling each other in strange metal armour, roars and screeches, and the clashing of swords and claws rang in her ears. She saw herself standing atop a hill with Lucius by her side, both of them in similar armour, shouting things she couldn't make out as tall, shadowed figures ordered the opposing side.

The images were replaced by her boys, Henry, Rika, even Jeri and a little girl she's never seen before screaming in pain as they were attacked by something she couldn't see and long red gouge marks appeared all over their bare skin. A boy she never saw before appeared before appeared next, he looked somewhat familiar with icy blue eyes, but aside from that, she had no clue who he was. He seemed so…emotionless…so void and he held a strange curved sword as he seemed to be mouthing things at her, but she heard no voice.

Karu fell out of her chair as the visions ended and she was left with a big, searing migraine leaving her clutching her head in pain. Several girls were snickering at the fact she was on the floor, while Takato, Kenta and, surprisingly, Lucius were immediately on their feet.

"Is she okay?" Lucius asked in concern. "Karu?" Takato asked in worry. "She always get these headaches, but recently they've been turning into migraines," Kenta briefly explained though he was casting a mildly suspicious look at Lucius who had picked up his book.

"P-P-Pills…in b-bag…" She got out. Kenta immediately fished out a little pill bottle the doctor had given her in case a bad migraine happened as well as her water bottle. She quickly put one in her mouth before just as quickly drowned it down.

Mrs. Saji then asked, "Karu, are you feeling alright enough to go on with the class?"

After a moment, Karu got up, albeit, a bit shakily and gave one of her favourite teachers a shaky smile, "I-I'm fine, Mrs. S-Saji, really."

Mrs. Saji didn't seem so sure, but didn't press it, knowing how stubborn the girl could be. Once everyone was seated, she started the reading, "We last off with the party scene; here we have two servants, Lord Capulet, a second Capulet, Tybalt, Benvolio, the Nurse and of course, Romeo and Juliet."

Karu sighed as she rubbed her forehead for a moment, badly confused what this strange (stranger) vision meant. As far as she knew, if there were to be an adventure involving her and her friends, surely they would all be fine. She was rarely wrong, so she couldn't understand the strange visions of pain and war she saw. What confused her further was why looking into Lucius' eyes caused her such visions or why he was in them. All she knew was that their future's were linked somehow, she just hoped it was in a good way.

As they read through yet another passage of Romeo and Juliet, she barely resisted the urge to puke every time she heard fan girl-comments about the new boy. Be it audible or thought as well as rolling her eyes at every jealous thought she so loudly heard from the other boys.

Her strange new abilities to hear people's thoughts had been acting like a glitching on and off switch. It would be on or off at varying degrees where she would just only hear people in a close radius or to a point she heard so many voices jabbering about all sorts of things at once, it made her head spin. It was a surprise she hadn't snapped at someone yet.

She had been practicing a bit with it after she got home, trying to minimize how many voices she heard. She didn't get her salvation until closing time.

Point is, she had a horrible headache and the mental strain of the visions wasn't helping anything.

She groaned in relief, wincing at the same time, as the bell rang. However, just as she began to pack, Mrs. Saji came up to her, "Karu, I was wondering if I could ask you and the boys for a favour."

"Shoot," Karu said as she, Kenta and Takato looked up at her. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind showing Lucius around for the first few days," Mrs. Saji said making Karu grimace a bit, "I would normally ask Yuki but…I don't think it would help him get to know the school well."

Even Takato knew what she was getting at and he was usually naïve to this sort of thing. As much as Karu didn't want to spend more time around the new kid as necessary, she was just too nice to let him fall into the hands of someone like Yuki or/and Akimi. She mentally cursed herself for her morals.

"Why three?" Takato asked out of curiosity. "Well, normally I'd just ask one of you," Mrs. Saji explained, "But I figured it might do all four of you some good." With that, she left, leaving a small awkwardness between the four.

"Well…this is awkward…" Lucius put in trying to make conversation as Takato and Kenta stood by the mentally-pained girl. While Kenta kept looking unsure of something, Takato gave a shy smile, speaking in his usual soft tone, "Well…new kids…just don't really happen often."

Figuring she couldn't just judge him for how she was feeling and something she couldn't control, Karu offered a smile, as strained as it was, was lopsided with good-nature as she said, "Well, welcome to Shinjuku Middle School, either way!"

Lucius and Kenta looked a bit surprised by her hospitably, but it put both their nerves at peace, albeit for different reasons. "Well…I don't know how introductions work here, but," Lucius said shrugging with an innocent smile, "As you know, I'm Lucius Soto, I like to read, paint and I dislike people who feel their more important then others for stupid reasons."

"Hmmm," Karu hummed in thought before joining along with it, "Well, I'm Hikaru Shiota, but everyone calls me Karu and that applies to you, less you want a black eye on your first day!" Takato and Kenta sweat-dropped at her not so subtle threat as she held up her fist for emphasize.

'Some things never change…' The two thought making Karu shift, pretending she didn't hear it.

Lucius just chuckled nervously making a mental note not to get her bad side as he held up his hands in mock-surrender, saying, "Dully noted." At hearing the mental note, she smirked.

"Anyway, I like flowers, playing Digimon, hanging out with my boys, spending time with my dad and fighting," Karu continued before narrowing her eyes a little, "I don't like perverts, fan girls, people who hurt my boys, people who make B.D. cry, all-things girly and being called the g-word."

That last one made Lucius look at the other two boys with a raised eyebrow and they just said simultaneously, "Don't ask." He seemed to think on it, before shrugging, wisely not saying a word.

"I'm Kenta, Kenta Kitagawa," Kenta said, "I like hanging out with my big sister and little brother, playing Digimon, I like bird-watching and going to the beach, um…" He thought for a moment, "I don't like greedy people and people who manipulate others for selfish reasons or people who make B.D. cry."

"Okay, I have to ask, B.D.?" Lucius asked tilting his head in away that made nearby girls squeal. "It's…kinda a nickname," Takato said face red making the girls squeal even more, making Karu grind her teeth together in irritation, a growl deep in throat.

"You okay…?" Lucius started to ask before stopping cold as a fierce look appeared on the girls face. Turning in her seat, she glared heatedly at the giggling girls and snapped viciously, "WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?" Never noticing her eyes glowing as the lights flickered, which added to the scariness of it all.

Scared, the girls ran out screaming. None of the boys noticed her eyes glowing and just watched her with sweat drops running down their heads. Calming down as the glow disappeared, Karu blew at her bang in agitation as she turned back around, crossing her arms, while muttering about fan girls being the death of her.

"Umm…well…I'm…" Takato said trailing off as he mumbled his name so quiet, none of them heard him. "I'm sorry, what?" Lucius asked eyebrow raised.

"My name's…" Takato tried again but he was just barely squeaking out his name. "Come again?" Lucius said hand to his ear.

"It's…" Takato managed to lift his voice just barely above a normal whisper, "Takato Matsuki!" He squeaked and hid behind Kenta.

"Yeah and in case you missed it, he's very shy," Karu added more amused then annoyed with her friend's antics, well used to them. "Painfully so," Kenta added a bit annoyed at being used as a social-shield. "I noticed," Lucius chuckled.

"Um…I really like hanging out with my big brother and sister…um…I love animals and…um…I love playing Digimon," Takato got out in a soft, meek voice, face red at having the spotlight on him, truth be told, Lucius found it adorable. "He works at a shelter," Karu put in. "And rarely loses," Kenta added.

"Um…I hate people who hurt and abuse animals…" Takato admitted quietly, "And people who hurt others for no good reason…and when someone puts down Karu…" That last one earned a small smile from said girl, while an admirable one from the new boy.

"Sounds like you three get together like three peas in a pod!" He joked and Karu had, to admit those rumours about his 'painfully fake smiles' had to be just that, cause this one was actually nice.

While she couldn't shake the lingering feelings she felt at the beginning of class, she was willing to just think it had something to do with the past and simply none of her business. "Well, we've been friends for a while now, so I guess it's a given," She smiled back in response.

"I'd have to agree," Lucius chuckled eyes sparkling with mirth, interest gleaming beneath, "So…what do you guys like to do around here?"

The tour wasn't quite as long as Karu thought it be, Lucius was actually rather intrigued with all the different things there were too do. Though it did get a bit irritating when Yuki and Akimi deemed it necessary to introduce themselves to the new kid. She didn't need her new empathic powers to tell she wasn't the only one annoyed with their antics, even Takato didn't seem very amused with them.

Lucius seemed rather impressed with the school's dedication to sports though he did say he wasn't much of a sports-person and she knew he was being truthful about that much at least. She was a bit surprised to learn she shared literally every class she had with him, though didn't think much about it. Karu found him rather nice, though it disturb her a bit as she recalled how…icy, for lack of better word, he turned when reacting to Yuki and Akimi. It still made her shiver thinking about it. His warm, bright smile just turned so…fake. Maybe the rumour wasn't that exaggerated after all.

She shook her head as the bell finally rang, she waved her friends off as they headed for their science class, while she and Lucius were to head for art. "You seem rather excited," Lucius noted how her mood seemed to sky-rocket to near elation.

"Well, I really like art class," She explained as she led him up the stairs to the third level where the art-workshops were along with a few empty and yet to be used rooms were.

As soon as she entered the room, things became slightly more quiet, especially when Lucius followed her in. As she took her usual seat, she gestured for Lucius to sit next to her, which he did with little hesitance. The classroom wasn't quite as bland as the rest were.

The desks were long enough to fit three chairs at once and were a dark brown with different coloured surfaces. The walls were covered with various different art-styles and little samples of pots and hand-made statues lined a few shelves, while others were filled with paints, cans of pencils and markers, and other such things used to draw, along with large packages that were labelled clay, coloured paper and other such tools. Another shelf was full of well organized books of art-styles, art history and artists.

"Hey, Karu," A familiar voice greeted making her blink and look up to see a familiar face of deeply tanned skin, dark blue hair and grey eyes.

She smiled, "Hey, Henry!" Lucius raised an eyebrow at this apparent relation.

"Mind if I sit with you guys?" Henry asked as he took in the new face, a small shiver going up his back as those strange blue eyes locked onto his.

"Sure, if Lucius doesn't mind," Karu said as she turned to said blonde for his input. "I don't mind," Lucius shrugged with a polite smile, "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine."

Henry took that as his cue to sit on Karu's opposite side, leaving her between the two. "So, who's your new friend?" Henry asked as he and Karu start to shuffle through their art bags. "Exactly what I want to know," Lucius added.

"Oh, Henry, this is Lucius Soto," Karu introduced, "He's the new student from America," She then motioned to the Asian, "Lucius, this is Henry Wong, a…" She paused to think of the right way to describe her new relationship with the blue-haired boy, "Recently new friend."

"Nice to meet you," Henry said holding out a hand to him. Lucius looked at him for a moment before accepting it in a friendly handshake, "You too."

"So, Karu, what's with the new look?" Henry asked as he took in her new appearance. Lucius raised an eyebrow as the girl's face gained a noticeable flush as he asked, "New look?"

"Um…I…usually dress more…boyish then this," Karu explained to him as she took out her green sketchpad, which was near identical to Henry's, which was a burnt orange colour. She then answered the other boy's question, "And I'm starting my after school job today; my day thought it'd be a good idea to set a better impression with a better outfit."

"Really?" Lucius asked sounding a bit surprised. "Yeah, this is actually the first time I've _ever_ seen her wear make-up," Henry added with a teasing grin. "Oh hush," Karu frowned at him, trying not to pout making the two boys chuckle just as the second bell that came before class rang.

All of the other students rushed for their seats as their teacher came in. He was just around Mrs. Saji's age with messily spiked dark, midnight blue hair, the kind that was dark enough to look almost black with a lock of it, oddly, kept in a red band and was long enough to brush his collarbone and his eyes were naturally yellow, giving him a naturally wild appearance. He was dressed much more casually compared to other teachers; a pale yellow shirt under a brown cardigan with faded jeans with black and blue Nikes.

"Morning everyone," He greeted with a pleasant smile. "Good morning Mr. Crier," Everyone sans Lucius greeted.

"I see we have a new student with us today," Mr. Crier said as he nodded to Lucius who offered a small nod of respect in turn, "I hope you feel comfortable so far in our school Lucius."

"So far so good, sir," Lucius smiled sheepishly.

Mr. Crier hummed pleasantly in response, before addressing the class, "You all have this class remaining to complete your Medieval projects then we move on to our next art period…" He paused for a somewhat dramatic effect, "Renaissance Art!"

The kids all laughed and cheered, before getting to work, either staying at their desks with their sketchbooks open on their projects, while others went to a cabinet were their projects were while also getting the colouring utensils and others went to the easels while getting their canvases. Lucius watched the busy commotion awkwardly, feeling very out of place as Karu flipped open her own sketchbook and Henry got out a deep green folder that had brown letters that spelt out 'Portfolio' to get his own.

Guessing what was wrong as she literally felt his uneasy through the thick sea of the class' happiness, Karu tapped his shoulder before pointing to a shelf once she had his attention and told him, "Mr. Crier keeps the spare sketchbooks and paper over there."

He looked rather surprised but she just smiled at him before getting out her own case full of colouring pencils and a sharpener from her bag. He shook off his surprise before going over to the shelf where the books and paper were. He flipped through the books before selecting a pale blue one and paused before grabbing two sheets of paper.

When he sat back down he was surprised to find a small, thin case of blue sketch pencils and turned to the other two questioningly. "Mr. Crier gives them out to everyone at the beginning of the year," Henry explained motioning to his own and Lucius noticed Karu had one too, but neither was touching them.

Karu found that the class went by rather faster then it normally did. As much of a headache the mental voices added to her previously dulled one, it wasn't entirely a bad thing, but she did wish Lucius had a bit more time to work on his project since he had to look at her notes to get a basic idea where they were and Henry was happen to explain what he didn't understand.

Mr. Crier had walked around during the last ten minutes to give an early idea of what they're grade might be, his intent was simply innocent. Give them the idea of what it would be like to be judged by college professors or people interested in artworks, should they chose that career path.

So far, things had been rather nice, everyone getting praises and delicate advice. Though, soon enough he came to their own desk.

"Now here's a sight I don't normally see," He joked making the trio look up from their work, "Miss Shiota, don't you normally work alone?" Don't get him wrong, he was glad she was getting along with them so well, the new kid especially, it was just surprising to see her getting along with them so quick.

"Well, Lucius isn't as bad as people make him out to be, so why not?" Karu smiled back as playfully nudged the blonde, who flushed a bit, "Besides, Henry's not exactly the jerk-type." Henry chuckled a bit, unsure how to take that.

"I can imagine," Mr. Crier chuckled. He had been observing them from afar as best he could during the class and they seemed rather friendly as their newly acquainted situation allowed. He then eyed their concealed projects, "So, what masterpieces have you three got today?"

Henry revealed his first; it wasn't a real big, it was a replication of a the Virgin Mary from a site he found during their research period two classes ago, it was well drawn and the color was expected; blue and gold, as their notes had said was popular during the age in question.

"Very well done, Henry," Mr. Crier praised, "A very good use of the popular Medieval colours, and a very well done job with clothing creases."

Henry chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head, "Thanks Mr. Crier."

Karu revealed hers next. It was a beautifully drawn image of a stain glass window on a stone wall with roses growing around it. Each line that separated each colour of the glass was expertly drawn, each curve and line in the roses' petals and their thorny steams remarkable. The stain glass window depicted the image of a male angel with his hands together in prayer, his sashes loosely done, giving an air of elegance. It was only partially coloured in, the stone wall was the traditional gray, while the thorny stems were a dark green and the roses were a pure white, and a few of the glass shards in the window that she had already coloured were either yellow, blue, orange and even white.

"Karu…this is…just beautiful!" Mr. Crier said in amazement, "How did you come up with it?"

"Well…you said Medieval was a time where a lot of art was religion-based, so I thought I'd try something that would've been found in a church," Karu said trying to keep the explanation short, "But also something that would hold a bit of meaning, I mean, you'd expect a couple of angels in a church right?"

"But why white roses?" Henry asked. "Well…I was kinda going for a really old church," Karu said sheepishly, "You know, something like an old ruin; besides, white roses mean purity, so I thought it would fit in nicely."

"And it does," Lucius nodded as he took in the picture, "But how do you know that?"

"Know what?" She asked confused. "What white roses mean," Lucius said patiently. "Oh, well, my grandma runs a flower shop," Karu chuckled rubbing the back of her head, "I've been literally growing up around flowers since I was practically born."

"Still, Karu the amount of detail…and the meaning with the colours…" Mr. Crier said in amazement, "It's just spectacular!"

She blushed at the praised. The teacher shook his head before looking at the blonde, "I don't except you to show me anything Lucius, it is your first day."

"But I did want to try," Lucius said though he did seem a bit self-conscious, "Though I doubt it's very good."

"Oh, c'mon, Lucius!" Karu protested with a grin, "Show him, I think its great for a first try!"

Henry smiled as well, "Yeah, even if its not finished!"

Lucius looked hesitant before revealing his own work. It was a stunning portrait of a young woman with long, dark hair in a mermaid-tail braid with what looked like an astroemeria (1) flower tucked behind her ear. Her features were soft and delicate, carefully drawn with a warm, caring expression, complete with a smile. A headband was drawn carefully around her head behind the flower with what looked like little gems dotting it. She was dressed in a flourishing, simplistic-looking dress with the appropriate shading in all the right places and beautifully drawn star patterns along the sleeves.

Mr. Crier could only gape in shocked-awe. All this in just barely an hour? It was defiantly up to par with the other two's pictures. Maybe a bit better once it was given the proper colour. He had to admit, the girl had a strange air of familiarity, but for the life of him, he just couldn't place a name to that face.

"That…is…" Mr. Crier tried to say, "Lucius, I can't even try to describe this!"

"It's Karu," Was all Lucius said much to everyone's surprise. "Huh?" The girl in question managed to say.

Henry took Lucius' sketchpad to take a closer look, while comparing it to the bewildered brunette. "Huh, he's right," The half Japanese, half Chinese preteen said, "It's exactly how'd you look if you were just about Mr. Crier's age."

Karu took it to see for herself and blinked. It did look a lot like her, just with longer hair and older looking. She then blinked as she turned it to Lucius and said, "Hey, my eyelashes can _not_ be that curly."

Lucius just shrugged as the other two just gaped at her response. The guy just met her and he drew a portrait of an older her and that's all she says?

Karu wasn't that dense, yes, it did unnerve her a little bit that he drew a picture of her, especially after that odd vision and feelings she got from him. But hey, can't judge people for little things. Besides, she found it a little flattering, especially with how well it was drawn.

Karu could safety say she was happy the rest of the day went off without much incident…or another vision for that matter. Lucius proved to considerably smart for his age and a nice person to talk to, even if he, surprisingly, didn't know much about Digimon. Yes, he knew the game, yes, he knew people who played it. But he didn't play it himself, never having much time to, plus she noticed a strange unease coming from him along with…nostalgic, the homesick kind of feeling. It made her curious why bringing up Digimon would provoke that.

After parting ways with the new kid and Kenta, Takato and Karu were calmly heading down the street towards Takato's home and Karu's new job, when they noticed something odd. Four large, armoured trucks were lined up in the street, they were clearly government vehicles from their dark-tinted windshields and the antennas atop.

"That's weird," Takato noted blinking, "You think its some kind of government operation?"

"You mean tracking down some kind of criminal or dangerous animal?" Karu responded but her eyes widened as that last one gave her a more grim conclusion. Judging from the sudden horror and alarm that came from Takato, she knew he had the same thoughts too.

Turning to each other, they spoke together in the same conclusion, "Or Guilmon!"

The two broke into a full sprint to the park, Takato panting a bit for breath. The boy's panic was sending his train of thought speeding a mile a minute and it wasn't all good as Karu could plainly hear. But her own panic prevented her from trying to console him.

As they rushed up the stairs to the shed, Takato called, "Guilmon!"

She called out as well, "Guilmon? Answer us!"

When they reached the inside, they found a large portion of the floor as well as part of the back wall was dug up and two empty, plastic bags were left on the floor; but no Guilmon. Karu brought her hands to her mouth in horror, while Takato was filled with dread, which he voiced, "Oh no…they must've found him…"

Tears started to swell in his eyes, "I should've hidden him better…"

Karu placed a hand on his shoulder, "Let's not give up yet," He looked at her, "Maybe he's just hiding." He nodded, finding the possibility plausible.

The two rushed out into the secluded part of the park, calling for the missing Digimon. 'They're probably doing horrible experiments on him…' Takato thought worriedly.

"He has to be around here somewhere…" Karu said as she looked around. A sudden beeping made them blink before Takato pulled out his Digivice, which had the compass active, making her blink, "What's that?"

"Its how I…" Takato said before it dawned on him, "Found him the first time…okay," He started pointing it different directions, making Karu yelp as she moved to avoid getting hit by his arm, "There? No, there. No, over there?" He groaned, "How does this thing work again?"

"I don't think swinging it around like that is going to work, Takato!" Karu scolded as she bobbed him in the head as gently as possible. She held onto his wrist as he held the Digivice up and noticed the red triangle was on a side of the screen.

Gently, she moved the device towards the red triangle till it was perfectly a-lined. As both kids paused in all movement, pointing their hands to the bush covered area, the red triangle and dotted compass were replaced with four white triangles that formed a square-like shape, indicating they've found something.

"There..." She said as she let go.

As they walked towards it hesitantly, unaware that up on a branch, cleverly hidden in a large cluster of leaves, was Impmon, who still had yet to notice the faint pink shimmer beneath his glove. Impmon couldn't stop himself from tensing as he watched the two inching closer to the rustling bushes. Even from his position high above, he couldn't tell for sure what was beneath the thick clutter of green. It bugged him to no end of why he cared so much about a 'rottin', stickin" human girl, but something in him told him she was important and if anything were to happen to her...well, he'd rather not think about it. It took everything in him not to leap forth and stop them from getting closer as the boy she's always with calls out timidly, "G-Guilmon...?"

Raising his voice a bit, Takato called again, "Guilmon?" The leaves continued to rustle, "Guilmon, come on; are you in there?"

A loud, childish laugh emerged from the bushes, followed by the raptor-Digimon, who cooed, "I win!" He laughed again as the two sagged with relief, Impmon almost fell out of the tree to see it wasn't a rogue, "Let's play again!"

"Guilmon, you dunner-head!" Karu giggled, "You scared us both!"

"Yeah, we though we'd find you floating in a big tube of fat like on TV!" Takato added as they rushed to the dinosaur, kneeling to hug him. "That sounds like fun!" The large rookie said innocently, "Can we do that next?"

"Oh boy..." Karu chuckled with mirth as she shook her head in disbelief. "Seriously, boy, you can't go wondering around on your own like that, what if someone saw you?" Takato said with much concern, "There's no telling what could happen out here."

"But there's nothing that can happen," Guilmon said innocently, "If you two are right there with me."

"I don't know about that, boy," Karu said, "I'm starting my job today and Takato goes back to the shelter today too."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you'd stick out like a sore thumb," Takato commented idly while thinking of what to do.

Karu sighed, "On that note, I should get going, mustn't keep Miss Mayumi waiting."

"Be safe, Dark Angel," Takato said a bit distracted which she didn't take personally as she was doing her best to save herself a headache by blocking his thoughts out. "You too, Baby Dragon," She replied before hugging Guilmon around the head, gently scratching him behind the ear, "You keep a good eye on him for me, okay, Guilmon?"

Guilmon cooed happily at the attention and chirped, "Okay, bye-bye Karumon." She giggled before heading off, never once noticing Impmon skillfully and stealthily following her from the tree branches, nor the bright look on Takato's face and she was already out of earshot when he exclaimed in a somewhat quiet voice, "I got it!" Earning a confused look from Guilmon.

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Mayumi Wong had certainly not been disappointed when her old friend suggested this young lady before her to watch Suzie for her. With how busy Janyu has been getting at work, all three of her older children getting so involved in after school activities, it was left to her to watch Suzie. However, she's been meaning to get back to work for some time now, but she didn't want any of the stereo-type teenager her watching her baby. While she was hesitate in letting someone so young and inexperienced, watching Hikaru interact with Suzie had changed her mind.

She was defiantly a lovely, with shortish, silky brown hair that had been spiked with little randomly placed fringes, giving a certain edge to her look and her eyes reminded Mayumi of sapphires polished to perfection. Watching her (Karu) reminded her (Mayumi) of her eldest Jaarin playing with Henry when he was Suzie's age. Her gentleness, her care. It honestly impressed her.

Imagine her surprise to learn Miss Shiota shared a few classes with Henry, but only just formally met him yesterday. This made Mayumi positive this just might be a sign.

"Okay, Hikaru, I left all the emergency numbers on the fridge in blue writing, including Suzie's doctor, Dr. Fuji," Mayumi said though she didn't feel like she had too, "All the medicine is in the cabinet mirror in the master bedroom, the key is under the TV, if you need anything, just call me or my husband on our cells."

"Of course Mrs. Wong," Karu said politely as she stood and followed Mayumi to the door, helping her with her coat, "And I prefer Karu."

This made Mayumi smile, Miki had mentioned that little nickname, "Then, please, call me Mayumi."

Karu smiled as she waved the woman off, before gently closing the door.

"Kawu, can we play pwincess?" Suzie asked innocently with such big, pretty eyes it made Karu's heart warm up. "Of course," She smiled before playfully curtsying, "What shall we do first, Princess Suzie?" Suzie giggled happily as she pulled the much older girl towards her room.

Unknown to anyone, Impmon was watching through the window, listening and peering, wondering why he was and couldn't help but feel rather annoyed that the girl's room had no window from what he could tell. It irked him why he wanted to keep this girl in his sight at all times, to know she was alright. He felt this and he didn't even know why. It gave him one big headache.

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Meanwhile, Takato arrived to the pet center he all but ran himself. Slipping through the back with Guilmon by the alleyways, he slipped on his worn, teal apron, grabbing a few pair of gloves in case he had to clean anything and baggies for animal poop. As he paused at the door that led to the ever busy area where the animals were already out for visitors to see, he looked back at Guilmon and whispered to him, "Remember, you're not a Digimon, you're a robot that was donated to promote the lizard and reptiles, okay?"

Guilmon nodded and with a deep breath, Takato led him out. The place was quaint in a homey sort of way, as best as the place could be. The puppies (all of varies different breeds) played in a bright, multi-colored plastic pen, while separated from the older dogs, same for the kittens and cats in an area designed for them. The rodents were all separated into different shelves, full of fun tunnels for them to wind through and wheels and such to play with, same for the rabbits and the few ferrets. The lizards and snakes each had their own tanks, same for the fish that required certain temperatures. There was even a tank of turtles by the counter where the leashes, collars, name-tags, whistles and water-sprays were kept. Closer to the counter were several shelves stocked and oragnized with various things from food to toys to healthcare things.

Takato faltered when he saw the group of kids (kindergarteners) peering through the windows excitedly. He forgot today was the annual Junior Adoption day for the local elementary, going by grade at time. He looked nervously at Guilmon who tilted his head before walking around, making him sigh as he got to the door and could faintly hear the excited chattering of the kids as well as the teacher's strict reminders.

He smiled as he allowed the children in, mostly the boys took to the puppies, while most girls went for the kittens, while a few curiously looked at the other animals. He was rechecking the collars when he heard a boy say, "Wow, guys, look its a Digimon!"

He stood to see a boy looking at Guilmon with wide eyes. "Actually, he's just a robot," Takato said as he walked around the counter as Guilmon, surprisingly, put up a good act, "We thought he'd be a nice way to show how amazing lizards were a long time ago."

"Wow!" The boy and a few others gasped as they gazed at the raptor. "You mean lizards really looked like that once?" A boy with blonde hair asked in awe.

"Yeah, once, long before their were humans, actually," Takato smiled much to their amazement, "Lizards are one of the oldest animals on the planet and were once taller then most office buildings."

"Wow!" They exclaimed. "Could they get that big now?" A brown-haired boy asked hopefully. "The only thing that comes close is a crocodile," Takato answered humourously, "And I don't think anyone would want one of _those_ man-eaters for a pet."

While a bit disappointed, the kids all chattered hoping to get a lizard for themselves, while bidding Guilmon an innocent goodbye. This left Takato staring after them as he finally comprehended what just happened and all he could do was blink and say in his usual very quiet voice that only Guilmon could hear, "I can't believe that actually worked..." He gave a rueful smile, "And I owe it all to you Mrs. Saji."

When the kids finally left, Takato was cleaning out a hamster habitat with another volunteer when Guilmon suddenly growled while looking out a window.

"Wha-?" Takato said confused. "Is it suppose to do that?" The volunteer asked and they both yelped when Guilmon suddenly burst forth, squeezing out the door just as the volunteer that walked the dogs opened it, making him yelp too. "Takato, what on earth?" The boy said very confused.

"Sorry Mao!" Takato quickly apologized as he ran after Guilmon, apron, gloves and all, "I'll be back!"

Takato had to full out sprint to keep up with Guilmon, while shouting at him, "Where are you going? You can't run off by yourself!" But once again, he was ignored, "Guilmon!"

He followed him down into an underground parking lot, the raptor growling all the while, "Guilmon, slow down!" He never noticed his digivice beeping rapidly, the screen a deep red, while he muttered out of breath, "I need to stop cutting out of gym class and attending Mr. Shiota's gym more."

No sooner did he arrive in the parking lot did a familiar figure appear from behind a cement beam. It was Rika, who leaned against the beam. Her hair back to its normal, neat ponytail, scratches and bruises healed to a considerable degree, nothing too noticeable.

"You again..." Takato said softly with worry as Renamon and Guilmon had a stare-down behind her. "Nothing gets by you, huh, Goggleshy(1)?" She taunted snidely, "I see Fighter's not here to fight your battles for you anymore," She smirked cruelly, "You going to fight this time? Is your dino out of diapers yet?"

"Goggle...?" Takato momentarily wondered before shaking it off, "This is pointless! Why do you want to fight us, we haven't done anything to you!"

"Well, duh, what do you think Digimon do?" Rika asked as if it were perfectly obvious, turning her head to look at the two, "They fight to get stronger and when they get stronger, they digivolve," She turned back to face him, "You two are just her stepping stones."

Takato stared at her in disbelief, "But she's going to cream him with or without your cards! This isn't even a fair fight!" He glared at her weakly, "You can't attack!"

Guilmon took this the wrong way as his eyes turned feral and bared his teeth as he shouted, "ATTACK!" He immediately lunged at the fox, who was chuckling as she easily dodged by backing up onto the top of a car.

This immediately got the two's attention as Takato yelled (more shouted with his vocal level) in mild exasperation, "Guilmon, not _you!_ "

"Bring it on, big boy," Renamon taunted silkily as Guilmon stepped forth. His maw glowed with fire as his voice echoed, "PYRO-SPHERE!"

"GUILMON!" Takato cried momentarily startling Rika as she was used to his quietness, "STOP!"

But it was too late as he launched the ball at Renamon, who leap up to dodge, causing it to blast off part of the car as she created her beautiful, but deadly attack, her own voice echoing, "DIAMOND STORM!" But Guilmon didn't even try to move out of the way as each shard that didn't miss simply bounced off his diamond hard hide.

He growled dangerously as he turned and watch her land then gave his best attempt of a roar that made his species the feared creatures that they were, but it fitted his size and wasn't all that fierce. "Oh, was that suppose to scare me?" Renamon asked in mocking surprise as he got ready to attack again.

"Guilmon!" Takato cried out rushing past Rika, who didn't look at all concerned, he tried a weak, "Down boy?" But was ignored as Guilmon advanced towards Renamon, who simply kept leaping back, while taunting with her silky tone, "You must have a lovely singing voice." Guilmon just continued his throaty snarls and growls.

"Please, now _isn't_ the time to be going AWAL on me..." Takato said nervously but was still ignored. Rika just smirked, before a familiar voice called out, "STOP!"

The two humans turned to see it was Henry, who had Terriermon atop his head, standing in the entry way, frowning.

As Karu reached for something Suzie had asked for, she winced and clutched her chest. Turning around, she couldn't but feel like something bad was happening and once again, her Baby Dragon was right in the middle of it.

Meanwhile, while picking berries with his real sister, Kenta quickly turned away from their family garden and sneezed. "Bless you," His sister said as he sniffled, why did he get the feeling he was being left out of something big?...Again.

* * *

 **Me: And...I'm done!**

 **Takato: Now that was intense.**

 **Me: No kidding I got writer's cramps several time writing this and checking for spelling mistakes! But at least I can see this is officially the longest chapter I've ever written in all my stories!**

 **Rika: Nice giving me and Renamon more limelight**

 **Kazu: Gah!**

 **Kenta: What's wrong Kazu?**

 **Kazu: I just realized she put my character in a _DRESS!_**

 **Me: Well, deal with it *waves frying pan threateningly* unless we want another round with the pan again...**

 **Kazu *yelps and dives behind Henry*: I'm good!**

 **Suzie: I wonder who the kid is?**

 **Jeri: What he has to do with anything?**

 **Me: Well, there's a thing call plot twists, so wait for the next chapter and see!**

 **Ryo: How's the poll coming?**

 **Me: Oh, well right now its Lucemon in the lead with 3, Myotismon is right behind him with 2 and Ranamon in third with only one vote, leaving DemiDevimon and LadyDevimon tied in last with a big fat zero.**

 **Guess a lot of people like the idea of the main villains redeeming themselves and personally, I don't mind it either, but so people know there's still plenty of time to change that, so until next time my dearos and remember the golden rule-**

 **Takato: Can I do it?**

 **Me *shrugs*: Go ahead**

 **Takato: NO FLAMMING!**


	8. Chapter 8: Digi and Telepathic Evolution

**Hey guys, its me with the new chapter, I know its been a while, but its hard to juggle story, but hey, I'm enjoying the challenge! Anyway, here we go!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Digi and Telepathic Evolution

Back in the Wong apartment, Karu and Suzie were taking a break from playing princess. So far, to Karu, Suzie was just precious as they played with her fancily dressed dolls. Suzie would act out the helpless princess and 'scary dragon', while Karu would act out the 'king and queen' and the knight, she even played tickle monster while they pretended the battle of the knight and dragon. As for Suzie, she was thoroughly enjoying spending time with her new babysitter, who didn't mind playing with her and her dolls and didn't mind when she let her imagination run wild, unlike her previous babysitter...or her own siblings for that matter.

After moving back into the living room (much to Impmon's relief), Karu played Tangled for Suzie while Karu started setting up to make them some sandwiches. She already got out the shredded chicken, mayo and lettuce for herself, but was having trouble finding the peanut butter for Suzie. She finally found it on the top shelf of the cabinet.

Karu let out a soft whine of disbelief, wondering how she was suppose to reach it, before getting an idea. She went to the dining area and carefully pulled one of the chairs over next to the counter. Impmon watched anxiously as she climbed onto it, feet sinking oh so slightly into the soft cushioned seat, faster then he realized, dozens of horrid scenarios were running through his head of what might happen to her. He quickly shook his head, smacking himself whilst scolding, "Don't go losin' yer head 'ere!"

Pushing up on her tiptoes, Karu stretched up toward the top shelf, reaching for the jar, but groaned seeing that even with the chair she still couldn't reach the top shelf. 'Just great,' Karu groused mentally as she strained to try and inch her fingertips closer, 'Come on...come on...' She was completely unaware of how her eyes gave another pale glow as she tried to will the jar to her hands, 'Come on...'

Imagine her surprise when the jar actually lifted itself off the shelf and started to float away from its original spot. She gasped in shock, causing her concentration to be cut off, which in turn caused to the jar to fall, but she quickly caught it.

She blinked in shock as she looked down at the jar in her hands, '...did I just do that...?' There didn't seem to be any other explanation to the jar suddenly moving, making her sigh, 'Great, what next? Wings?' Winced, reaching back to gingerly touch her shoulder blade as she imagined her growing wings, best not to jinx it...or think about it for that matter.

00000000000000000000000000000000

Takato smiled at the arrival of his new friends, saying in relief, "Thank goodness..."

"Don't make me laugh," Rika scoffed at the sight of them, "Do you really think that weeny little bunny can stand up to Renamon?"

"Who are you calling weeny?" Terriermon huffed insulted as he hopped off his tamer's head, landing gracefully on the ground, "Henry, I think that qualifies as rude!" He started looking up the word, so he was sure it was.

"Yeah," Henry said dryly, "That seems to be going around lately, Terriermon," He then turned to his fellow Tamers to speak more seriously, "There's so much about this we don't understand yet; yes, Digimon were created to fight, but that doesn't mean that's all there is to them or so that should even be doing it here," He glanced down at his partner, "They came here because there's something they can't get on the net."

That made Renamon flinch back, uncertainty marring her face as she recalled her mission. She had promised she would find the princess and bring her back to the Digital World. They had gone too long without her and it was time for her to return to her birth home. Trouble was, after finding Rika, she's been so distracted with wanting more power so she could protect her, she's almost completely forgotten about her mission.

Takato shrugged as he offered a guess, "Freedom of choice?"

"Well, when you figure it out, let me know," Rika said never noticing the look on her partner's face, "Until then, Renamon, you know what I expect."

Snapping herself out of it, Renamon replied, "As you wish," Launching into the air, she preparing her attack as a familiar shining cluster formed, "Diamond Storm!"

Guilmon ran foward, intending to take the attack head on, but was forced to stop when Terriermon suddenly ran out in front of him...into Renamon's range of fire, much to Henry's horror as he shouted, "Terriermon!"

Renamon gasped in alarm, "Get out of the way!" Terriermon looked up in surprise, but the attack went off, causing an explosion went off after another car was struck. Henry ran towards it, yelling in worry, "NO!" But his digivice's screen lit up, followed by another bursting out from the smoke.

Within the light, Terriermon found himself surrounded by a green net-ball of data as he called out instinctually, "TERRIERMON DIGIVOLVE TO..." His skin began to peel off and dissolve, revealing a glowing green outline, which began to shift and change, growing in size as his horn and ears got smaller and everything else got bigger.

The new being regained its skin, revealing a tall being with a strong resemblance to Terriermon, but with shorter ears and stood on longer legs that were clad in jeans. Its hands were covered in identical dark metal guns and a sling of bullets appeared around its torso. Making a pose, it spoke in a voice similar to Terriermon, but older sounding, "GARGOMON!"

"He promised me he'd never do this," Henry said with much worry. "That's Terriermon?" Takato asked stunned, "He got huge!"

"Whoa!" Gargomon cried as he shot around like-crazy, the sound of his machine guns filling the air, "This is hard!"

"This is what I was afraid of!" Henry exclaimed as he and Takato hide behind a car, "He's just not ready for this kind of fire power!" And he was right, Gargomon was shooting up the garage and wasn't even trying to control himself.

Renamon's instincts kicked into overdrive as she jumped and grabbed onto Gargomon's head. "Way to go Renamon," Renamon crowed not seeming to realize the danger she was in, still out in the open, "Now's your chance!"

"This is just wrong," Henry said as Takato whimpered at the gunshots, covering his ears as Henry continued, his gray eyes watering, "Its like he was never Terriermon at all." Renamon jumped up onto some pipes and Gargomon shot at her, knocking some pieces of the roof loose.

Takato peered over the car hood and gasped, "Uh oh!" Gargomon was advancing on Rika, who had backed herself against a column, effectively cornered. Rika's eyes were wide and fearful, finally realizing the situation she was in as Gargomon readied his guns, making Renamon yelled in alarm, "RIKA!" But when she ran at him, Takato reacted, yelling, "GUILMON!"

Guilmon charged at Gargomon, getting there first and headbutting him away from Rika, making Renamon quickly stop before she could collide with the dinosaur. "That's one hard head," Henry commented as Gargomon laid against another column, dazed.

000000000000000000000000000

Karu giggled as she brushed Suzie's hair, the girl was holding up two tiaras, one with dazzling pink fake-gems, the other had shimmering blue ones. Suzie wanted to surprise her family when they got back with how pretty a princess she was. The girl was just too adorable for Karu to protest to despite how she wasn't much of a 'princess' person.

"I'm home!" A familiar voice called out. "Henry?" Karu said in surprise as Suzie rushed to the door excitedly to greet her brother. "Henwy!" Suzie cried twirling in her princess-tutu to show him her new look, "Look, Kawu made me a pwincess!"

"Karu?" Henry said in surprise as the girl in questioned stepped out. "Huh, Suzie Wong, Henry Wong, who knew?" Karu joked with a shrug.

Outside, Impmon nearly lost his footing at seeing another Digimon in the room with her and him unable to help her if something happened. Those thoughts caused him to smack himself and remind himself he was just curious about her and nothing more.

"Did you really play 'pwincess pwetty pants' with my sister this whole time?" Henry asked in amusement feeling a little sorry for her, knowing how she hated girly things like this. "Is that what she calls it?" Karu responded not at all stressed like how his other sister usually was after playing with Suzie, "First time I've heard it; and to answer your question, I guess, I actually had a lot of fun," She grinned playfully at Henry, "I didn't know you had such a cute sister!"

Henry chuckled smiling, while Terriermon tried not to show how tense he felt because Suzie was still in the room. He didn't know why but something about the girl just made him so nervous. But what she said made him mentally frown, 'Cute?'

"So your babysitting my little sister now?" Henry asked. "Guess so, hope you don't mind," Karu replied shrugging.

"Not at all," Henry replied smiling still, "Gives me a chance to get to know you better." Karu was taken aback by this, blinking in surprise. "Not a lot of guys exactly want to get to know a girl that can easily take them down in a fight," Karu commented, "Dirty or otherwise."

Henry shrugged, "I'm not most guys." She smiled, crossing her arms as she replied, "I know," She hugged Suzie goodbye before telling him, almost a little too quickly, "Tell your mom to have you give me my pay at school, I need to be getting home before my dad freaks out."

Henry blinked after her at how fast she made for the door as he answered, "Uh...sure." He hummed in thought as he watched her go out the door. Suzie was saddened to see Karu go, but brightened at remembering she was her new babysitter and that meant they'd get to play together again soon. Henry felt the slightest smile tug at his lips, Hikaru Shiota was certainly a mystery, but she was a mystery he found himself wanting to solve.

As he blinked down at the sandwiches Karu left out, before he winced upon realizing the most likely reaction Karu would have upon learning of the recent encounter with Rika. Biting into the ham sandwich, he sighed, hoping Takato could handle her.

Impmon let out a huff as he leapt to the next telephone-pole, the movement catching Terriermon's eyes for a second. Humans were just so complex at times it confused him and gave him a bit of a headache. One moment they were having the time of their lives and the next they were so shy it was pathetic; to him anyway. He peered down, eyes lingering on his bandanna, which was still tied innocently to the girl's wrist as she emerged from the apartment building.

Karu paused when she started to go down the street and lifted the hand with the bandanna on the wrist up to her face. The never ending curiosity over who helped her still burned at her as she remembered the shadowed figure. It couldn't have been a child like Suzie despite the size-fit, no child could just jump out the window and disappear into thin air, especially when the window was about four-five stories up from the ground. It made her wonder if it was a Digimon that helped her, which was still confusing as to why a Digimon would help her when it wasn't her partner since no digivice appeared at the contact.

"Hey, Karu!" A voice called out jerking her out of her thoughts. She turned in surprise to see it was Lucius, who was wearing a thin blue sweater holding a bag of what she had to assume was groceries.

He blinked at her startledness and held up his free hand to calm her, saying in quick apology, "Sorry!"

"Lucius?" Karu breathed in surprise, she looked at the building then back at him, "Do you live here too?"

Now it was Lucius' turn to incline his head curiously as he asked, "Too?"

"Henry lives here," She supplied jesting a thumb at the building entrance, "I'm babysitting his younger sister."

Lucius let out a chuckle, "Sounds like a small world around here, but no, I don't live here."

As they were talking, Impmon was still oblivious to the glow under his glove as he peered down at the boy with narrowed, suspicious jade orbs. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something creepily familiar about that human boy, but he couldn't figure out what it was or where he had seen that face before. It was right in the back of his head somewhere. Whatever it was, it made him uncomfortable as he watched the two interact. For some reason he the most nagging feeling that it wasn't safe for the girl to be near him.

"Wait, if you don't live here..." Karu said trailing off with uncertainty of why the boy was in this part of the city.

"Just picking up some things for _mio papà (1)_ ," Lucius replied as they walked down the street, "You'd be surprised how many Japanese things can make good Italian _bontà (2)!_ " She chuckled. figuring it was some kind of joke from his expression and tone, having no idea what that last word meant.

She shook her head, replying, "I'll just take your word for it."

"Hey, can I give you a lift?" Lucius offered, "I...think we're basically going the same way."

She looked at him in response while quirking an eyebrow, "Lift? You can't drive."

"Maybe not a car," Lucius smirked as he stopped beside an odd bike that had been chained to a pole with a padlock, causing to quickly stop when she realized he had and back-track, "But you'd be surprised how young you can be to be allowed to ride a motorbike over in America."

Karu blinked at that before looking at the odd bike; the wheels were much like a bike's and was attached as so, save for the back one, which was almost covered by the metal of the support. Two panels, she guessed, served as support for the feet as there were no pedals and the seat was just large enough to fit two people and there were meters similar to a car's. It was dark blue with decorative gray and white fire-like patterns.

"This...is yours?" Karu asked sounding as surprised as she was in awe and just as curious. "Yeah, _papà_ got it for me when I turned ten," Lucius replied as he set the bag in a compartment, then proceeded to unlock the padlock, "I was lucky we were able to bring it over."

"Are you...sure its safe though?" Karu asked uncertainly, a trace of fear in her voice as she looked at the normal, bustling street. "Sure, don't you trust me?" He replied causing her to turn sharply at how those words affected her: her brain immediately screamed at her to say no and get on the bus, despite a small logical part of it pointing out it would just make her late. Yet...as something in her told her he couldn't be trusted, something else told her that he could.

From above on another telephone pole, Impmon had heard the offer and question and was having an immediate freak out on the inside. On the outside, he was squirming, hoping she'd say no as he covered his mouth with both paws to prevent himself from yelling immediate negativity he wanted to pretty much scream. His fear of this unknown distrust drowning his previous detached mannerisms.

All Karu could do for the moment was look at the offered helmet before lifting her gaze to his bright icy blues as she asked, "...what?"

He shifted his grip on the helmet, his smile never faltering as he repeated, "Do you trust me?"

There was something about him that sent a conflicting chill up her spine and a swell to her chest. Something repeated told her to say no and leave, while something else told her to go with it. Plus it would be nice to ride on a foreign, new bike...

Smiling, she reached out and grasped onto the helmet, answering, "Yes." Though just what she was answering, be it her odd instincts or Lucius, she wasn't entirely sure.

She easily strapped the padded helmet on as Lucius sat in the seat, his own already on. Impmon, throwing caution to the wind, let his jaw fall open in disbelief as he bemoaned loudly, "NOOO!"

Karu carefully threw one leg over the leather seat, sliding her arms around Lucius' torso as the blonde boy turned key to start the ignition. Lucius couldn't help the smirk that slid across his face as she tensed at the bike vibrating to life, before absent-mindly glancing down at his pocket, where a pale pink light shone beneath the cloth. "Relax," He assured her eyes glinting in amusement as the engine revved, "Just like riding a normal bike."

"I don't..." Karu began but was interrupted by Lucius speeding into the street, causing several cars to stop and honk in both surprise and annoyance as she shrieked out in startled-fear, "EEEEEEK!"

Impmon gasped in alarm, his foot slipping at the sudden movement, causing him to nearly fall off the pole had he not grabbed onto one of the metal bars. Correcting himself, he waved his fist after the bike, yelling angrily, "GET BACK 'ERE!" He quickly pulled himself up and followed via the telephone poles.

Karu buried her face into Lucius' back in fear, bracing for some kind of impact. But after a while of nothing happening, she slowly opened her eyes to find Lucius was easily moving through the street without colliding into the back of a car, she glanced around in amazement at how things seemed to almost blur by as they weaved almost expertly through traffic, annoying only a few drives but not causing any near or close-to accidents. The colors seemed to be the only thing she could make out clearly.

"See?" Lucius chuckled making her cheeks heat up a little, "Nothing to it." She smiled as she relaxed, enjoying the ride.

Impmon, however, wasn't enjoying the experience at all, having a difficult time keeping up as he jumped from telephone pole to telephone pole. He had to skid and nearly fall several times when he saw the bike go in a different direction from the one he was about to go in and was getting the idea the brat driving was aware he was following. But he dismissed those thoughts with a smirk as he started to gain, "Got ya!" But he put his foot too far and slipped, and this time, fell right into an open garbage dumpster with an alarmed yell, the lid slamming down as the bike drove by.

Karu blinked, having heard the yell, and looked over her shoulder while asking, "Did you hear something?"

"Huh?" Lucius questioned back, glancing back as well, "No." Though when he looked back ahead, he smirked slightly at their companion's downfall.

A cat was walking across the dumpster lid when loud banging was heard from inside, along with muffled shouts, scaring it off. "BADA BOOM!" Impmon yelled furiously using his attack to blast the lid open, allowing him to pull himself up by the edge, a rotten banana peel on his head, "I think I've just been dumped..." He was just glad he knew the route to Karu's house by heart already.

Climbing out, he shook took the peel and angrily threw it at a random bag left on the side before yelling angrily, "DAMN KIDS AND THEIR AUTO-BIKES!"

Back in Henry's place, once Suzie left him and Terriermon alone in their room, Terriermon dropped his stuffed-act and looked at him, asking, "Well?"

Henry didn't glance at him as he worked at his computer, replying, "Well...what?"

"Well, what do you think of her babysitting Suzie?" Terriermon expanded earning a raised eyebrow from his tamer. "You mean Karu?" Henry clarified and Terriermon nodded, barely holding back a shiver as he remembered the glare the girl gave him when they first met, "I dunno, she really likes Suzie," He then chuckled, "And Suzie really likes her; so I don't have a problem with it; why, do you?"

"I just wonder if its okay," Terriermon said, "You know, since she's so close to Guilmon's tamer."

"Takato's too meek to hurt anyone," Henry reminded turning the seat so he could look at his partner, "Much less order someone else to do it for him, so I don't see any danger." Terriermon whimpered seeing he didn't have a chance in avoiding Karu. He honestly didn't know what it was but he was pathetically intimidated by her, like being deleted was better then facing whatever she could do if very angry.

Over at Marcus Shiota's gym, said master of the Shiota household was waiting as patiently as he could for his daughter's return as the last of his customers were packing up to leave, along with his secretary. "I know she just got out of the hospital and all, Marc, but really," One customer said as the man peeked between the panel blinds again to check if the girl in question was back yet, "I'm sure she's fine."

"She missed the bus," Marcus grunted out as he started pacing. "I'm starting to wonder if he'll actually pace a hole through the floor," Another costumer joked earning a scolding look from the secretary. "So, the kid missed the bus, what's the big deal?" The third and last costumer asked mostly to the secretary then Marcus. "Karu's never missed the bus before, she's always on time," The secretary, a blonde woman a little younger then Marcus, who had jade-green eyes, answered.

No sooner did she say that did the purr of a motor-engine sound from outside, getting everyone (even Marcus') attention. They all went to the window and peered out to find a fancy motorbike parking itself right in front of the gym with two kids on it, their identities hidden by the helmets. "Nice bike," The first costumer commented. "Oh god no..." Marcus muttered paling a bit as his blood boiled at recognizing what one of the riders wore as the two got off.

Karu removed her helmet first, a wide smile on her face as she said, "That was amazing!"

Lucius laughed as he removed his, smiling as well as he replied, "I told you it'd be okay!"

"He's cute," Izumi Orimoto commented smiling at the sight of her boss' daughter's new friend, but couldn't help but think, 'And really familiar...' She couldn't quite place it, but there was something really familiar about that face, like she's seen it somewhere before, but for the life her, she just couldn't place it or figure out why it made her feel so...so fearful. But Izumi wasn't one to let her fears be public knowledge, so, with years worth of practice, kept hidden under a mask of teasing-interest, already knowing that the bike was a red flag as far as Marcus was concerned.

"Obviously part of that knew household that just moved here," One of the costumers commented looking at the others, "Soto, right?"

One nodded, "American if I remember right." Izumi shook her head, "Not likely, Soto is Italian." She should know.

Marcus was too busy glaring and mentally planning the guy's death to care which he was and muttered, "American, Italian; their both hotblooded, two-faced asses." The remaining costumers just looked at him oddly, while Izumi didn't seem fazed.

"Is this your place?" Lucius asked looking at the gym. "Yeah, dad used to be a professional boxer, but dropped it all to raise me after my mom died," Karu explained getting off, "But he didn't want to give up his passion, so he opened this place and started lessons."

"Looks like he's good at it," Lucius commented as he got off. "He is," Karu smiled fondly as she recalled all the private lessons her father gave her in all sorts of martial arts, "He taught me everything I know."

"Well, what a coincidence," Lucius chuckled pointing to a house right across the gym, "Guess this means we're neighbours!"

Karu blinked in surprise, taking in the simple looking two-story house across the street. "That's your house?" She asked in surprise. "Yeah, we just finished moving yesterday," Lucius confirmed as he placed the helmets away. 'Odd,' Karu thought cocking her head in thought, 'I've never seen a moving van.' But shrugged figuring she just wasn't paying attention, thus missed seeing it.

"Maybe I can drive you to school sometime," Lucius offered much to Marcus horror. 'Please say no,' He prayed to his daughter, who was oblivious. "That would be so cool!" Karu agreed making Marcus hit his head against the glass, much to Izumi's amusement, before a frown appeared on her face, "Though, I usually walk with my friends..."

"Oh..." Lucius frowned as well, not that Karu saw since it only stayed briefly, "Maybe some other time then."

Karu smiled in response, her memory of the feelings she got off him an almost distant memory. She could still feel something strange about him, but the sheer frigid-cold that she felt back at school was now merging with the early autumn chill in the air to the point she couldn't tell which was which. "Sure, I'm know Kenta would love to see that thing in action," She replied pointing to the bike, "Though, I won't count on getting Taka anywhere near it." She chuckled at her own joke and Lucius couldn't help but chuckle along, trying to picture the shy boy trying to work up the courage to get near his bike, especially after seeing it work.

Soon those chuckles turn into full blown laughter as those images turned into poor Takato actually getting on and going for a ride. Karu was laughing so hard her legs were shaking and she was clutching her stomach, while Lucius was leaning forward from how hard he was laughing, one hand clutching his stomach and the other on a pole to keep himself up. "They're getting along well," One of the costumers commented. "Oh hell no..." Marcus said marching over to the door, ready to drag his daughter inside. But Izumi stopped him by pouncing on him, whilst yelping, "Marc, no!" Sending them both to the ground.

Once Karu and Lucius recovered, the blonde wiped away an imaginary tear as he commented, "Yeah...that'll happen in a million years!" He smiled at Karu, who full-out grinned back.

But then, a voice called from across the street, "Lucius!" Getting their attention, a figure stood at the door of Lucius' house.

"There's my dad," Lucius said, "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Karu waved as Lucius pushed his bike across the empty street, "See ya!" She sighed, shivering as she remembered the thrill of the ride before turning and heading to the door, which opened as the last of the costumers left.

"Night there Karu!" One said heading for the parked cars further up the road. "Good night Hikaru," Another said. "Night guys!" She greeted as she headed in, closing the door behind her, "Dad, I'm home!" With her back to the room, she removed her shoes, while explaining, "Sorry I missed the bus, but I ran into some classmates on the way and-" When she turned around, she blinked to see her 'Aunt Izumi' tumbling around the floor tangled up with her father, their voices meshing together into incoherent noise as they argued.

She sighed at this, wondering why she was so surprised as she crossed her arms and wondered aloud, "Why do I always get the weird family members?" She winced as they rolled into a potted fern, but sighed once more as they kept arguing, oblivious to her presence. Giving a shrug, she headed up stairs.

As Lucius placed the bag of groceries on the counter of the decent, modern kitchenette, the figure who had called him in watched from across the dining table. Even with the lights, the figure managed to keep most of his appearance in shadow as the only lights on we're in the kitchen and across the room in the ajoining living room. Lucius didn't seem put off by the darkness as he put the food away.

"Nice of you to give our new neighbour a ride home," The figure commented. "Just being friendly," Lucius shrugged, eyes bright with mischief and deception.

The figure leaned back, crossing his arms, which were clad in thick, blue cloth and black, fancy gloves, his didn't sound at all convinced of his attempt to lie, "Don't think you can lie to me of all mons," Lucius glanced back, eyes losing all mirth and replaced by cold-regard, "I taught you all you know, after all."

"Tch," Lucius huffed at being caught, but sighed figuring it would've been pointless to try, "She's...interesting..."

"I can tell," The figure responded sharply in kind. "And it reacted to her," Lucius said taking out what had been making the pink glow in his pocket; a silver badge with pale yellow wings and a pink crystal. Now that made the figure tense, before making sure he heard clearly, "What?"

"I think its her," Lucius said, "Plus, she reacted strangely when we made physical contact and before that, she went out of her way to avoid eye-contact with me and when she did, her eyes glowed a little."

The figure was silent for a moment, before saying, "Don't confront her right away, it could be a fluke; _their_ descendants tend to cause that." Lucius nodded in understanding, unable to stop the mischeif smile that grew on his face: this was going to be fun.

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The next morning had been uneventful for Karu, apart from being lectured/interrogated by her father and being forced rush out the front door by Izumi's 'boy tips'. She, gratefully, was back in her usual attire of dark muscle shirts and shorts.

'Honestly, Lucius is just a friend,' She thought to herself trying to will the headache caused by her blonde aunt away, a hand on her forehead, 'But Aunt Izumi's acting like I told him he's my first crush,' She couldn't help the snort that choked its way up her throat, amusement shining in her eyes as she commented aloud, "That'll be the day; the day I start crushing on anybody will be the day Takato actually grows a spine."

The image of Takato actually standing up for himself and beating his bullies up himself, caused a burst of giggles to softly spill from her, spirits lifting as she linked her hands behind her back, a silly grin on her face. It was just that unlikely, since all the boys she knew were somewhat sexist jerks, at least, concerning her they were. She paused to look up at the traffic light, deciding maybe that wasn't entirely true; her boys would never act that way towards her; mostly cause they know she'd pummel them if they did and they knew her for too long to know she was never going to be a girly-girl like the others at their school, plus Henry and Lucius didn't seem so bad.

Karu began to tap the toe of her shoe on the pavement as she remembered how well she and Henry got on when he returned home yesterday. It wasn't just how well they were getting along that scared her into a quick retreat, it was his genuine interest in getting to know her. She just wasn't used to boys her age actually wanting to get to know the real her and not just the her she put on for the school.

 _CRAAAASSH!_

Karu snapped out of her musings by a loud crashing from nearby, which was followed by a terribly young male voice shouting in apology, "Oops, sorry Mr. Kittymon!"

Karu felt her heart tighten at the last word, eyes narrowing, 'Mon?' She looked around the oddly empty street, as it was usually busy by now with shoppers moving between the stores. She briefly glanced at the school-gate, before walking over to the alley as an alley-cat ran by hissing. Walking down the alley, she didn't spy anything off, much less where the voice could've come from, just the usual trashcans and dumpsters, one can, of which, was on its side, contents spilled out, which explained the crash.

Karu scratched the side of her head, whilst wrinkling her nose at the stench that filled the alley, wondering if she imaged the voice, but it then spoke again, "Hiyeah!" From right behind her.

Karu's eyes snapped wide in surprise and felt her body tense up in apprehension. Her mind was going a mile a minute, wondering how anyone got behind her without her noticing and the possible Digimon it could be.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she slowly inched around, but didn't see anyone. "Do you wanna play?" The voice asked again, making her look down and spot the owner. She knew it was a Digimon, she just didn't recognize it. It was small, male by the sound of it, its whole body save for the tips of its wing-like ears and feet was white, while said tips were purple, a red upside-down triangle symbol with little black triangles around it was standing proudly on his forehead and he had three, tiny black claws on both hands. The brightest, biggest and roundest pair of eyes shone up with her with pure interest, innocence and cheer, opposite of Renamon. They were green, the shade of fresh spring grass on a cloudless, sunny day.

The little guy just continued to smile up at her despite her stunned look, giggling at her.

* * *

 **Me: DONE!**

 **Rika: Finally!**

 **Me: Are you guys going to complain every time I finish a chapter?**

 **Ryo: Pretty much.**

 **Me: *sighes* great...**

 **Kazu: Well, if you give it up...*smacks with frying pan* OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?**

 **Me: For suggesting I give it up! Like that'll ever happen!**

 **Takato: How's the poll going?**

 **Me: *facepalms* Oh, thanks for the reminder!**

 **Lucemon is in the lead as Karu's partner with a solid four, followed by Myotismon with two, while LadyDevimon and Ranamon tie for third with one and DemiDevimon has none.**

 **Henry: Sounds like Lucemon is the most favoured option for Karu's partner.**

 **Kazu: Traitor!**

 **Me: Yeah, but there's still plenty of time to vote before I close the poll, so to all my lovely viewers out there, keep voting for her potential partner!**

 **Kazu: Remind me again why I'm a babysitter?**

 **Me: Cause I said so!**

 **Suzie: I though Impmon falling into the trash was funny!**

 **Kenta: Yeah it actually was!**

 **Impmon: Yeah, yeah, yack it up! *pouts***

 **Me: Until next time everyone!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, I'm back with the new chapter! I hope no one's too mad about the wait, I just been so focused on the others I almost kinda forgot about this one, so I hope I can make up for it with this new chapter.**

 **Rika: Considering its taking you forever to update, lets hope so**

 **Me: Meanie! I'm trying!**

 **Kazu: Remind me again why I'm a girl? *smacks with frying pan* OW! Hey, I'm just asking! *smacks again* OW! Now what was that one for?**

 **Me *shrugging*: I just felt like it. Take it away Culumon!**

 **Culumon: Princess Luka Vocalzal does not own Digimon or any of its original characters!**

 **Me: But a girl can dream, meh, on with the show!**

* * *

Chapter 9: A New Friend, a Returned Nightmare

To Hikaru, it honestly felt like time had stood still as she stared down into bright, innocent jades that stared back happily without a care. In the back of her mind, every instinct was screaming about how she didn't notice it sneaking up on her and how she recognized it from one of her visions. She also wondered what Digimon he was (she was assuming it was a he by the voice), having not seen him on any card before or even in the previews of new releases.

The little guy didn`t seem hostile at all. In fact, he just tilted his head cutely as he giggled again, ears extending. Hikaru just swallowed, trying to control herself as her eyes scanning for any form of danger, but found none as she slowly turned to face him.

Taking a hesitant step forward, she smiled nervously, "Hi there…little…" She looked him over for any sign of being wrong in her gender-assumption, but once again found nothing, "Guy. What's your name?"

Clearly elated by the friendly greeting, her nerves completely lost to him apparently, and took a big leap of a step toward, his ears acting as wings as he safely glided to the floor, landing easily on his feet as he cheerfully replied, "Culumon, what's yours?"

Startled a little by his action, she answered anyway, "Hikaru." And she didn't even remember how much she hated her real name due to her shock.

"Nice ta meet you Hikarumon!" The newly dubbed Culumon continued to grinned very still friend and bright, makng the same name-mistake as Guilmon, it allowed Karu to start relaxing and smile a little, "Do you like to have fun? Wanna play any games? I know this really good one where ya have to go up and down on these really slippery walls and-"

She decided to cut in before he got too excited, "Culumon, do you know how you got here?" Allowing the little Digimon to finally stop talking and look at her quizzically, "Did you come from the Digital World?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked tilting his head in surprised-curiosity, "Are you a cadet too?"

' _Cadet?'_ She wondered confused as she knelt down so she would be less imposing to him, speaking aloud, "No, is that what you are?"

He nodded and that's when she heard the bell ring, making her try to hold in her yelp of alarm to know she was going to be late, but that left her in a pause of what to do with him. The only logical thing she could think of was to bring her with him so she could get him to Takato and, inadvertently, to Guilmon after school where the little guy would most likely be a lot safer then he would be wondering around on his own. It made her shiver about what could happen if he ever crossed Rika and Renamon's path. But then the question became how she going to keep him hidden and quiet enough that no one would find him.

Getting an idea, she smiled down at Culumon, "How about a little game?"

Jade eyes instantly sparkled at the idea of having fun and a new game as the owner asked excitedly, "What kind of game? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

Shrugging off her backpack, she placed it down between them and zipped it open. "You have to hid in and here and be really quiet," She explained smiling more genuine and freely as he reminded her a-lot of Suzie, bringing a finger to her lips to show what she meant, "And if you can stay quiet until I say you can come out, you win."

He peered into the bag curiously before looking up at her, "What do I win?"

That made her panic on the inside as she quickly thought on it, before answering, "I'll…introduce you to my friends; two of them are Digimon, just like you." She couldn't help but think, _'I hope Terriermon's mouth doesn't rub off on him.'_

But apparently all she had to mention was new friends caused those eyes just got bigger and sparklilier (is that even a word?) at the idea and he started doing a happy dance, whilst cheering joyfully, "Yeah, new friends, new friends!"

The sight made her laugh as she gently picked him up and he didn't resist as she said, "Guilmon's going to love you, trust me." Culumon just smiled brightly in response as he was placed in the bag and she zipped it just enough to keep him hidden from nosy-parkers, but still wide enough so he could breath. She carefully slid the bag back on as not to startle the poor guy before lightly jogging into the school, barely reaching the classroom as the final bell rang.

She sighed in relief as she set her bag beneath her desk, being mindful of its occupant as she took her seat. "Morning Karu!" A familiar voice chirped quietly from beside her, making her look over to see Takato smiling at her, his usual shy, but genuinely warm and friendly demeanour in full swing.

It made her smile back, "Morning." Though whether she would call it a good morning or not was debatable.

But then, another familiar voice rung in, sending a shiver up her spine as it said, "Morning." She turned her head the other way to see Lucius sitting down in the seat next to her as Kenta took his own behind her. She greeted back, "Morning."

"Excited for your second day, Lucius?" Takato asked curiously as they took out their textbooks. "Yeah, I'm excited to see what I can learn here," The blonde replied clearly eager to learn as he looked over his own textbook.

"Yeah, well, personally," Kenta spoke up as their teacher entered the room, "I don't think math is going to change, no matter where you go." His clear distaste for the subject was clear, making the hiding white Digimon giggle, paws pressed to his mouth in effort to stay quiet, unaware of how the tip of one of the purple tips of one ear was sticking out of the small space the girl had left in the top of her bag's zipper so he could breath.

However, the sound wasn't lost to Lucius and Takato, who blinked and looked down where the brunette girl's bag was and caught movement just as Culumon retracted his ears. Lucius blinked, tilting his head in confusion, wondering if he imagined it, while Takato narrowed his eyes a little.

'What was that?' Lucius wondered, which Hikaru heard making her wonder what he was thinking about. But she didn't dare try to pry, not sure what it lead to as she had yet to get control of her newfound powers, plus, with that strange coldness blanketing the blonde like a cloud, she wasn't sure what she'd find if she tried. But, feeling Takato gaze, heard her friend think, 'What is she hiding in there?'

Looking down at the bag to see if Culumon was giving himself away somehow, she momentarily panicked, hoping Takato wouldn't call her out during class. Glancing back at him over her shoulder, she offered a sheepish smile, making Takato shrug, figuring she'd tell him later, which made her sigh mentally in relief before refocusing on the teacher as the lesson began.

0000000000000000000

It had been hard for her to focus on both their math and their computers classes. Her new powers came with one even bigger headache then what she had to put up with before, since she would randomly hear random people's thoughts as well as feel what they were feeling.

It didn't help that the whole 'new student' effect hadn't worn off yet. Despite it only being Lucius' second day, she kinda hoped they'd forget about him, if anything to spare her the migraine, but had no suck lucky. Thus, she was stuck taking in and shorting out all the anger and jealousy of the other male students as well as the girls' (apart from Jeri) growing admiration toward the blonde, who seemed completely calm and oblivious to them, a good chuck of his own thoughts a complete mystery to her, not that she was complaining.

Thus, she couldn't have been happier when lunch finally came, having getting tired and more anxious with every cookie she slipped to the patient white, mystery Digimon inside her bag. Once she got her lunch, she glanced around before peering into her bag at the smiling Digimon, who looked ready to bounce out if he wasn't sure he had won yet.

"Did I win yet?" Culumon asked keeping his voice as low as possible so he wouldn't ruin the game if it wasn't done yet.

She giggled in response, smiling, "Not yet, I promise thought, it's almost there." He nodded and stayed quite as she zipped her bag, leaving the space again before running out into the yard.

Cloudy-blue eyes scanned the school yard to see if her boys were in their usual hideout or out and bout like the other students that ate outside. Upon seeing they were nowhere in normal sight, she figured the hideout and made a quick beeline for it, just in time to hear the ends of yet another Digimon battle.

Pushing her lunch box up so she could climb up without trouble, Karu rolled her eyes upon hearing the usual, soft exclamation of a certain red-eyed-brunette, "I win!"

"Hey guys!" She chirped over Kenta's annoyed grumble.

"Hey Dark Angel!" They replied, Takato being an equal chirp and Kenta's was a simple grumble. "You guys aren't going to believe what I found on the way to school!" She grinned keeping her voice on the normal, slightly low side to keep away nosy-parkers.

"What? A lost card?" Kenta guessed. "A baby bird?" Takato asked hopefully, eyes lighting up at the idea of a cute, baby animal, of which he had a special soft spot for, wondering if this was what she was hiding all morning, "Or a kitten?"

"Better," She replied unzipping her bag, "You can come out now."

At her assurance, Culumon promptly popped his head out, eyes big and shining as he faced the unsuspecting boys and almost yelled in happiness at the new faces, "Hiyeah!"

The unexpectedness and sheer shock of a real-life Digimon, coupled with the volume of his voice, caused both boys to jump back with startled yells…well, Kenta yelled, Takato was still soft-spoken, so his yell actually came out as a yelp as he jumped so badly he accidentally banged his head. Both boys' eyes were wide with shock, though, having Guilmon, Takato's shock was more mellow compared to Kenta's.

"A-A-A Digimon?" Takato stuttered out quietly, taking in the strange form. "B-B-B-But h-h-how?" Kenta stuttered out as well in a more normal volume, pitch raising as he took off his glasses and cleaned them to make sure he wasn't seeing things, putting them back he yelped again at seeing Culumon still there, "Its just a TV show!"

Culumon blinked at the strange new word before craning his neck to look up at the only female, "Hikarumon, what's a TV? Is it a game?" Takato tried to bite in his bark of laughter at hearing the 'mon' added onto her name and her full name to boot, instantly reminding him off his red raptor.

Karu just sighed as she realized she'd have to try and get him to call her by her nickname, the 'mon' add-on or not, before answering, "I'll explain it a little later, okay?" Culumon shrugged, not at all put off by the lack of explanation, allowing her to pick him up and take him out of the bag.

"How is this...p-p-possible?" Kenta asked inching just a little closer to better examine Culumon, "Digimon aren't...but he's right...and I'm not hal..." Karu, holding Culumon to her chest, let go with one arm so she could hide her grin at his shell-shocked look with her hand, also trying to hold her snort of laughter in as he seemed to realize something, making him look at a sheepish, yet also a little amused Takato, "But then...you're egg...Digimon..."

Kenta stuttered a little more for a full second before just freezing up comically as his brain seemed to shut down, making the remaining three laugh aloud. "So how'd you find him?" Takato asked carefully scanning her over for a digivice.

"He's not my partner, Baby Dragon," Karu answered for him once she figured out what he was looking for, letting the little guy go so he could look around their hideout and she watched as he started looking over the boys' cards curiously, "I was on my way to school when I heard him chase a cat out of an alley," She scrunched up her face as she thought on it, "Or at least, I'd have to think he chased it off, since he apologized after it," She shrugged, not wanting to add to her headache thinking on it, "Anyway, I didn't think it'd be safe for him to be wandering about by himself so I brought him with me."

Takato's eyes widened in realization, "So that's what you were hiding in class!" She nodded in response.

"Digimon...real!" Kenta blurted out as he finally snapped out of it making them look at him. "We tried to tell you," Takato chuckled sheepishly. "Nice to point out the obvious a little too late there, Captain Obvious," Karu added with a good-humored roll of her eyes.

"Well, excuse me if I don't have a Digimon popping up in my face shouting 'hiyeah' on a daily basis!" Kenta retorted cheeks reddening, "How long have you had him?"

Karu moved back when he got in her space demandingly, eyes narrowing unimpressedly as she answered, "First off, he's not mine and second, before I got to school."

Kenta accepted the answer as he sat back and turned to look at Takato, "So I'm guessing Guilmon really is real then," At the brunette male's nod, the greenette sighed, "Figures I was left out of this."

Karu looked at him in small disbelief as Culumon grew board with exploring and returned to her lap as she said, "That's what you're complaining about? This could be the start of our own Digi-Adventure and you know full well the kinda dangers that come with it and that's what you complain about? Being left out of the loop for the first few days?"

"I'm too tired to complain about much else," Was all Kenta said in response and it was then his friends took in his appearance and realized just how tired he really looked. With parents always so busy, it was left to Kenta and his real sister to care for the house and garden, both of which weren't as easy as they seemed. He actually had the makings of bags under his eyes, nothing overly noticable, but there if you looked close enough.

Figuring now was the time to lighten the mood, Karu looked down at her little friend and said, "Culumon, these are really good friends of mine," Culumon blinked at her before looking at the boy with brown hair and really friendly red eyes, "This is Takato."

Takato smiled as he gave the curious-looking Digimon a little wave, trying not to overwhelm him, "Hi there."

"And this," Karu continued and Culumon looked at the green-haired male as she pointed at him, "Is Kenta."

Kenta gave a more tightened, nervous smile as he gave an equally nervous, small wave as he said, "Hi..."

"Guys," Karu said motioning down at the little Digimon, "This is Culumon."

"Hi Takatomon and Kentamon!" Culumon chirped happily and finally Takato started to laugh, much to his and Kenta's confusion. "I'm...I'm sorry, but..." Takato chortled, cheeks red, "Gu-Gui-Guilmon does that too!" Getting an idea of what he meant, Kenta started to laugh a little too along with Karu as Culumon looked up at them lost.

Once they calmed down, the boys moved closer to better look at Culumon, who was once again entertaining himself with cards, this time Karu's cards. "So, Culumon, huh?" Kenta said curiously, "What kind of Digimon is that though? I've never heard of them."

Takato shrugged, "Niether have I."

"I haven't either," Karu added, "Maybe he's just a new kind of Digimon that wasn't discovered yet."

"What kind of game is this?" Culumon asked as he held an Angewomon and LadyDevimon card, "Why are there Digimon on these?"

"Its a Digimon game," Karu explained as she picked up her Neferitimon card, "Its actually really fun," That then reminded her, "Oh yeah, Takato, that reminds me," She picked through her deck before finding the card she wanted and handed it to the boy in question, "This is for you."

He looked at it and read the name aloud, "Training grips?"

"Yeah, I kinda already have three of them and Kenta already has two, so I thought you could use it," Karu admitted a little sheepishly, "Its basically resistance training for Digimon, you know, build up endurance for the online game, mostly used for Rookies though." He nodded his understanding, wondering if he could use it for Guilmon later on.

But movement made him made him look over to see Henry walking by, holding Terriermon in his arms and the Digi-rabbit was acting like a stuffie. "Hey, Henry, wait!" Takato called out as he got down from the ledge, lunch untouched, much to Karu's irrigation as she picked up the giggling Culumon, who didn't mind her action at all.

"Takato, wait!" She called out, following forgetting about her own lunch as she had the worse feeling something bad would happen if she didn't keep him in her sight. "Karu, your lunch!" Kenta called out in surprise, but quickly scooped up their lunches and hurried after them.

"Takato, Karu, hey," Henry greeted when he saw the two, along with Kenta, "Kenta right?" The glasses-wearing greenette nodded and Henry blinked down at the white creature sitting comfortably in Karu's arms, but thankfully, having seen Terriermon and sensing he was real, thought he was playing a game and mimicked him.

"Hey Henry," The sole girl of the growing group took noticed he didn't have any lunch box, "Aren't you eating lunch?"

"Well, I kinda already ate," Henry admitted adjusting his hold on Terriermon, who Kenta was eyeing warily, but Henry's focus was on Culumon, "Cute plushie, never pegged you for the type."

Remembering the cute white mess in her arms, Karu momentarily panicked and quickly glanced around but no one seemed to be paying them any heed. "Yeah...about that," Karu chuckled nervously.

"How's Terriermon doing?" Takato asked making both Tamer and Digimon tense, the tamer looking at Kenta nervously, which Takato noticed, "He already knows, don't worry," That made the duo relax a bit, "Did he digivolve again?"

Karu blinked, "Terriermon digivolved? When? How?" That made all three males who were present at the event stiffen a little, unsure how to tell her what had happened.

"Not another one," Kenta sighed as Terriermon looked at him curiously.

But then, that tightening feel to her chest suddenly returned as a chill swept toward her as Culumon extended his ears, much to Henry's startlement. Terriermon's ear twitched and lifted a little, rediverting Henry's attention to him as he asked, "What is it?"

"My ears for one thing," Terriermon replied making Kenta inch back, not expecting him to talk. "I sense a Digimon nearby," Culumon added once again startling Henry. "Another Digimon?" The blunette boy asked surprised, before looking around and gasped when he spotted what was wrong, "Oh no!" The other three turned to see what he was looking at and gasped as well.

Approaching them was a strange sight, though for Hikaru, it had nothing on her visions; a kinda of mist cloud was slowly inching towards them and it was a kind of lightish pink color mixed with a few wisps of a whitish-grey. It made the girl wonder if it just got here or if it drifted here and if it was the later, it made her wonder how it got all the way here without someone else noticing.

"What is that?" Kenta asked with alarm as he started to shake with fear, why did he and Karu have the undeniable feeling that this involved Digimon. "I hope that isn't what I think it is," Henry said nervously, 'What's a Digital field doing here?'

The thought made Karu narrow her eyes at the mist as it continued to inch ominously towards them, 'Digital field?' Was that how the Digimon were getting into their world? As Karu continued to stare, her eyes started to glow a light, icy blue once more, making Terriermon tense up a little at the somewhat familiar presence, while Culumon seemed confused as he glanced around for the source of the strange energy. Karu could see a strangely-shaped silhouette within the cloud, it was tall, with some kind of cannon-shaped arm and she could sense a strong anger and desire for revenge.

Snapping out of her physic daze, she gasped at what she had found, the glow disappearing along with the silhouette, but feelings of red-hot anger left her chest burning. "Whatever it is, its coming straight at us!" Takato said whimpering fearfully as he inched behind Karu, who tightened her grip a little on Culumon, who also whimpered, not liking the creature he could also see in the fog.

"Guys, run!" Karu said insistently as it got closer. "I'm in tune to agree," Henry nodded as Kenta dropped the lunch boxes from fear, "Come on!" The four turned and ran, the mist following as its paced picked up oh so slightly.

"Ugh, this is one week we've been having," Terriermon commented as he clung to Henry's neck. "For once, I agree," Karu added as she held onto Culumon, having no problem running with his feather-like weight.

"Must...run...faster!" Takato panted as he and Kenta lagged behind Henry, who was right beside Karu. "I would if Terriermon wasn't choking me!" Henry remarked pulling a little at Terriermon's hold, "This isn't possible! It's a Digital Field!"

"A what?" Takato asked between his gasps for breath. "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Kenta remarked sarcastically as they ran down the street, which was remarkably empty, "First Baby Dragon gets a Digi-Egg, then he looses the resident, who he finds, Dark Angel was in on it, now Digimon keep popping up everywhere!" Karu and Takato both winced at his ran, while Henry glanced over with a raised eyebrow.

"Does he do that a lot?" The Chinese boy asked. "Unfortunately," Karu replied.

"On top of that," Kenta continued, "What is a Digital Field and why is it chasing us?"

"You picked a bad time to ask questions," Terriermon commented once more. "For once, _I_ agree," Henry retorted.

"Its gaining on us!" Culumon shouted as he craned his neck to look behind Karu to see the cloud was picking up more speed to keep up with them. "Seriously, of all things, we're being chased by a cloud!" Karu almost yelled in disbelief.

"Well, it can't chase all of us at once," Henry said coming up with an idea, "Kenta, you take the street, Karu, Takato, take then bridge, I'll keep going that way."

As much as the idea of splitting up didn't sit right with her, she could see where he was coming from and she didn't need her new powers to tell her boys weren't fans of it either, but had the same thoughts of her. They nodded together, answering as one, "Right!"

With that said, they split up, Karu and Takato rushing up the stairs to the bridge, while Kenta went down one street and Henry went down another. But Takato stopped upon noticing something and pulled on Karu's sleeve to get her attention, looking where he was looking, she gasped as well; the cloud was following Henry and Terriermon.

"Henry!" The female brunette called, "Its going after you!"

"What?" Kenta shouted as he skidded to a stop and ran back over, sounding a bit breathless as they went back down the stairs to meet up with him, "Why does it want Henry?"

"Hikarumon?" Culumon whimpered getting their attention, "Will Henrymon and Terriermon be okay?"

"I hope so," Kenta commented. "I know so," Karu shot back confidently as they looked down the street the boy in question had gone, "Terriermon and Henry are tougher then they look," Before she raced after them, "Come on!"

"Not more running!" Takato sighed as he rushed after her. "Guys, wait!" Kenta called after them, "Shouldn't we be running _away_ from danger not _towards_ it?" Groaning, he hurried after them, wondering if he could sign up for Mr. Shiota's gym, since he got the feeling he was going to do a lot of this soon.

But Takato got an idea and stopped, "Karu, I'm going to get Guilmon, see if he can't help."

"Okay," Karu nodded at him, "But hurry!" He nodded back and took off in a different direction. "This is gonna be fun," Kenta commented dryly as they caught up, only to find the cloud had expanded, covering a whole construction site in a pink and grey mist. Kenta pulled out his sunglasses-cover on and placed them over his glasses, the magnets holding them in place, while Karu didn't feel the need to worry for her eyes, unaware of the silver light dancing across her eyes as they entered the strange mist.

Imagine their surprise to find Henry and Terriermon facing a tall creature, clearly a Digimon that resembled a tall gorilla with white fur and black skin, its eyes a dark blue that burned with fury. Its right arm was a mechanized cannon attached to the rest of the arm with large cables. "Is that...Gorillamon?" Kenta asked shell-shocked, more used to Culumon and Terriermon's small sizes, it made them cute to certain points, but Gorillamon wasn't designed to be cute, far from it, his size just added to the intimidation. But it didn't seem to intimidate Terriermon, who was standing in front of Henry protectively, matching the champion's glare and Karu could feel her respect for the rabbit lift a bit for standing his ground.

Henry, however, looked like he was reliving his worst nightmare as he stared at the hulking Beast-type. Karu almost choked on his fear and felt confused about why he suddenly felt so guilty. 'Gorillamon...' Henry thought absently as his fists tightened on themselves.

Kenta's voice was a squeaky whisper as he asked, "What are the odds they might know each other?"

"With a Digidestind's luck...?" Hikaru responded rather dryly.

Not a second later, Gorillamon finally broke the glaring contest by raising his cannon-arm, aiming it at the Rookie and growling dangerously, "Terriermon..."

Kenta gulped as Hikaru finished her sentence with half-lidded eyes, "Very likely."

It was then that Takato and Guilmon arrived, Takato had his goggles pulled over his eyes. The gogglehead stopped short as he took in the new Digimon and murmured, "Whoa, he's big..." A beep caused him to hold up his digivice, before the hologram appeared once more, only this time it showed a picture of Gorillamon along with his name, stats and his attacks listed beneath.

"Gorillamon, a Beast-type Digimon," Takato read making Karu's brow twitch, "Champion level, attacks: Power Lifting and Energy Cannon."

Resisting the urge to slap herself, Karu reminded him, "A _card_ could've told you that!"

"Um...hi there, Gorillamon!" Terriermon spoke up a tad nervously as the cannon began to charge, "Long time no see!" Now Karu really had to resist the urge to yell and slap herself.

Gorillamon didn't take to the greeting well either, giving an enraged yell as he banged his chest like any other gorilla or ape would before picking up a heavy metal beam and chucking it at the little rabbit-Digimon. Thankfully, Terriermon was able to jump out of the way.

"Gorillamon, stop it!" Henry yelled snapping out of his stupor as he watched in horror as the glow within the cannon got brighter, signalling it was almost ready to blast. But the beast ignored him, focus on Terriermon who tried to return to his partner's side in case Gorillamon got any ideas.

"Hey!" Karu shouted as she rushed over, ignoring Kenta and Takato's warnings, "Leave them alone!" With Culumon still in her arms, she leaned forward on one leg and spun on it, delivering a swift kick to the back of Gorillamon's leg with her other foot.

The unexpectedness as well as the strength behind the blow caused Gorillamon to shout as he stumbled a little, before looking back at the glaring female, who was hoping her glare would have the same effect on him like it had Terriermon when she first met him. Instead, he glared right back, raising his arm to strike, but Terriermon stopped with with, "Bunny Blast!" Shooting a green orb of energy at him, making the beast remember him and return his attention to him.

"Gorillamon, you have to stop!" Henry said as he ran over to Karu's side, "Can't you recognize me?" Thus confirming her thoughts of them knowing each other. Henry ground his teeth together, the memories of that day burning in his head.

"Henry, what-?" Hikaru began as she let go of Culumon with on arm so she could grab his shoulder, but gasped as energy sparked at the touch, traveling between the two of them, unaware of the entirety of her eyes were glowing a bright, pale blue. Henry jerked in surprise as he felt the same energy and his eyes glowed the same way.

As for Hikaru, she found herself in Henry's room, watching through Henry's eyes as his father gave him the newest version of the online Digimon game for his birthday, feeling his excitement. She watched as he chose Terriermon as his Digimon character and had him battle, only to digivolve while battling Gorillamon. She almost felt smothered by the immese horror, fear and guilt Henry felt as he watched this and once Terriermon reverted back to normal, was in horrible condition, despite Henry's attempts to help him. She felt his surprised-confusion as well as his desperateness as he received his blue card and, like Takato had, scanned it, giving him his digivice and like magic, Terriermon just...fazed through the computer screen and into Henry's caring arms and she felt his upmost sincerity in both his apologizes and his vow to never put his partner through that again, before she felt a sudden pull.

With a gasp, she snapped out of it and back into the real world, as did Henry, who looked at her in shock, his eyes widening as he looked into her glowing blue irises as she looked back at him with what looked like understanding and sympathy. "What did...you just...do...?" Henry uttered in shock, having never remembered the event so vividly, as if he was actually re-living it. "I...I don't know..." Karu admitted blinking as the glow slowly vanished.

They returned their attention back to the fight as Guilmon joined in, but Gorillamon's focus was entirely on Terriermon and Karu had a feeling she knew why. "That's...the same Gorillamon from the game...isn't it?" Karu spoke, but it didn't sound much like a question and all Henry could do was nod.

As Terriermon dodged another beam, Henry growled before refinding his voice as he yelled once more at Gorillamon, "Go back to the other side!"

"Run!" Takato and Kenta yelled. "Fight!" Gorillamon roared at Terriermon who was swiftly returning to his human as Guilmon launched himself at him once more, following them up the stairs to get away.

But Gorillamon easily kicked the raptor away and the red Digimon landed on his claws in a perfect handstand. Realizing this, Guilmon cheered, "Hey, look, I did it!" But no sooner did they stop to see what he was talking about, he started to wobble, "Oh no..." And just as they looked, he fell onto his front giving Gorillamon the chance to grab him by the tail.

"Oh no, Guilmon!" Culumon said in worry as they watched Guilmon was having his tail handed to him.

"Henry, Terriermon has to help!" Karu said to the Chinese boy. "No, I made my choice," Henry refused, "He's not fighting!"

Kenta couldn't help the quip, "Tell that to Gorillamon." And winced as Guilmon was thrown into a pile of cement bricks.

Unable to watch anymore, Terriermon leapt from the railing, "Hey, monkey boy!" He slapped the beast hard in the face with one of his ears, sending him to the floor.

But as he fell, his cannon finally discharged and the blast went sailing right at top of the stairs where Karu and Culumon were waiting for the boys to catch up. Looking up to see the purple blast coming, Karu froze up, eyes wide as she and Culumon let out cries of fear.

Henry, Takato and Kenta's eyes widened in horror, "Karu!"

Tightening her grip on Culumon, Karu twisted to her side, hoping to shield the little Digimon from the attack. Only to be suddenly shoved to the side. Karu grunted as her side hit the pavement, before opening her eyes (and wondering when she closed them) to see Henry kneeling over her to shield her and Culumon from debris as the attack blasted apart the spot she had been standing previously, which was now a sizable crater, having bounded up the remaining steps with renewed energy and got to her in time.

Once the debris stopped falling, he sat up properly, asking with genuine concern, "You okay?"

Unable to find her voice as she sat up, Karu just nodded as she held on tight to Culumon, unable to belief she was almost blown to bits and she just froze. Embarrassment was by far the easiest thing she felt right now, followed closely by self-anger, shock and gratitude. However, those feelings were quickly added onto by Kenta and Takato's own, along with their and Henry's previous horror and their relief. It all threatened to overload her, but she managed to keep it together as Henry helped her to her feet.

After watching their steps with the crater, Takato and Kenta joined them as Karu carefully rubbed a whimpering Culumon's head once she felt just how terrified he was, it seemed to do some good, but she could tell he was still scared. "Too close..." Takato muttered as he quickly pulled Karu into a hug, mostly to make sure she was okay and it just made her more aware of his fear, causing the numbness of the feeling to grow and spread through her. "You said it," Kenta agreed clamping a hand on Henry's shoulder with a grateful look on his face, to which Henry nodded back to. Karu couldn't make a vocal response, still trying to short herself through all the emotions.

They returned their attention to the battle as Terriermon spat Bunny Blast after Bunny Blast at the ape, who tried to use his arms to shield himself. Henry, while mad about Karu and Culumon almost being blown to bits, shouted at his partner, "Terriermon, stop!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Terriermon retorted, "Sit back and let him blast Guilmon like he almost did to Karu?" Henry recoiled, unable to form a proper response.

"He's mad," Guilmon commented as Gorillamon recovered from Terriermon's assault and glared at the two. "Watch out!" Kenta yelled as the Champion threw a punch at the two Rookies, who both dived to the sides to avoid the hit.

"They need help," Takato said worriedly, "We have to do something!"

Kenta looked at him almost defeatedly, "But what can we do?"

Karu tensed, shaking slightly as she took in their emotions, wanting to choke on the increasing guilt that just poured from Henry, much to Culumon's worry as he peered up at her, "Hikarumon?" But she didn't respond, making him whimper and retract his ears as Gorillamon roared and pounded his chest once more.

"He must've found a way to follow Terriermon here," Henry said in despair, "This is all my fault..." Guilmon and Terriermon kept dodging what Gorillamon threw at them.

"What..." Kenta asked as he and Takato looked at him confused, "What are you talking about?" Henry didn't answer, the now fresh memory of what had happened when he got Terriermon still haunted him.

But it was at that moment Terriermon got hit and was sent sailing back, much to Henry's horror, "Terriermon!"

But thankfully, Guilmon jumped in time to catch the smaller Rookie, being careful in setting him down. Karu honestly never felt so helpless before and she hated it, how she felt so unable to move and overwhelmed, and she hated it. As much as she agreed with Takato, she could see Kenta's point, what could they possibly do?

But then, Gorillamon growled, "Playtime's over..." As he rose his cannon and aimed it at the duo.

The sight finally snapped Karu out of her spell as her eyes widened in horror and she gasped, one word crossing her mind, 'No...'

Gritting his teeth, Takato shot off down the stairs, which furthered her alarm once she accidentally heard his thoughts on what he was about to do but was still unable to move, eyes frozen on the scene before her as the cannon charged. She vaguely heard Kenta's mental insult or his spoken words, "Takato, get back here!" As he rushed after him.

"Kenta!" Henry shouted in alarm reaching to stop the greenette around Hikaru, but was too late, "Takato, don't!"

But just as Takato picked up a pipe and began to charge, he froze as Gorillamon turned and glared at him, re-aiming his glowing cannon at the boy. 'Baby Dragon...' Hikaru thought in horror, knowing Kenta wasn't going to get there in time, she didn't even realize she had screamed as the cannon prepared to fire, joining Kenta's own..."TAKATO!"

"Crimson Lightning!" A new voice shouted as a blood red, lightning-like energy came whipping down on Gorillamon's arm, making him howl, arm pointing up, sending the blast into the air, completely missing any form of target as a figure dropped down in-between Gorillamon and Takato as Kenta finally reached the frightened brunette.

This new arrival looked very human despite being easily about eight ft with bluish-skin, long blonde hair and violet-colored eyes, and clearly male. He was dressed in a deep blue suit with gold buttons that matched the gold bat broach that held his ankle-length black cape in place, it was a cape with a high-collar with rip-patterned ends and was red on the inside. To finish his very vampire-like appearance was the twin fangs poking out from beneath his purple lips and the tall black boots that both had a skull atop the toes. He could be described as aristocratically handsome, if just a bit on the Gothic side.

Glancing back at the two humans, the very familiar Digimon asked, "Are you two alright?"

All Kenta could do, clearly shocked by the arrival, was nod. Takato was visibly shaking from the experience of nearly getting blasted like Karu had nearly been just seconds before. She could feel his anxiety from here and the fact one of the show's most famous villains was standing right in front of him wasn't helping any.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y..." Takato tried to get out, "M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-!"

But Myotismon ignored their reactions, having turned around as soon as he saw Kenta nod to level a now nervous Gorillamon with an ice-cold glare. "Ganging up on human hatchlings, Gorillamon?" Myotismon questioned in an icy tone that made everyone else present flinch, "I thought Beast-types had more honor then that."

Gorillamon growled lowly in response, but made no move to attack the clearly more powerful Digimon. He may have preferred brawns over brains, but that didn't mean he was an idiot. Battling a Digimon of a higher level was stupid, but battling one on Myotismon's level? It was suicide for a Champion like him. But when Gorillamon stepped back, moving as if to flee, twin growls made him pause and look around to see Guilmon and Terriermon, despite also being wary of the vampire, had considered him an ally and were blocking his means of escape, leaving him surrounded.

Myotismon then looked up at the bridge where the remaining two humans stood. The blunette was watching the scene with shock and mild alarm in his silver-colored eyes, while the only female present was frozen like a statue, her sapphire eyes oddly a little blank, leaving her emotions a mystery, despite the rest of her face being frozen in a look of shock, while the strange little white and purple Digimon in her arms watched with worried-curiosity.

The vampire locked eyes with the blunette, who shivered, for only a second before disregarding him, but when his eyes locked with the girl, his eyes widened in surprise as they started to glow, creating an ice-like effect. He smirked for a moment before schooling his expression once more as he returned his attention to Gorillamon, whose cannon began to glow once more in preparation for another attack.

"Now that," Myotismon spoke once more, tone dry, "Is a stupid move." He then brought his hands together as if holding a ball, forming a sphere of dark energy between them. Gorillamon began to panic at this, especially when he glanced around to see Terriermon had opened his mouth, charging a Bunny Blast and Guilmon was also charging his attack, eyes narrowed and slit.

"Gu-Guilmon..." Takato mumbled in shock at the look on his partner's face. "Terriermon..." Henry whispered as well, disturbed by the look the green light was creating on his partner's determined face. Culumon whimpered, frightened, before looking up at Karu, who continued to stare at the scene.

Gorillamon raised his cannon at Myotismon and was ready to fire when Myotismon shot his hands out, cape flaring as he shouted, "Grisly Wing!" The orb expelled a large swarm of chirping bats at the startled ape. Terriermon fire his attack as well with a shout, "Bunny Blast!" Which was then followed by Guilmon, "Pyro Sphere!"

The three attacks struck home, making Gorillamon howl in pain before becoming one big cloud of data. Terriermon took a step forward with the intention to absorb the data, but paused mid-step and glanced at Myotismon, who raised an eyebrow back. "Terriermon, I don't want you to absorb that data!" Henry yelled making the little bunny snap out of it and pout at him.

"Can I at least do a victory dance, then?" Terriermon asked not entirely serious, much to the vampire's amusement as he crossed his arms and relaxed, finally allowing the two other human boys to relax, almost colasping onto each other with small laughs of relief, "Huh? Can I?" Henry just rolled his eyes in bemusement as the pink faded away and the data continued to drift freely into the air.

'It...it's finally over...' Karu thought in relief as she sighed, but her body still felt frozen, her eyes blankly watching the Digimon below as she took in the warming feeling of everyone else's relief and oddly, someone else's confusion, with open arms as it slowly washed away the numbing feelings from before. Myotismon watched her as Terriermon and Guilmon went by him to celebrate with Takato and Kenta, 'If it is her, she's most likely overloaded from all the emotions this battle must have roused...' He smirked at her as they locked eyes and his glowed as well as hers did once more and slowly, hers regained life once more.

"Man, I turn around for one minute an-" Impmon muttered to himself as he finally caught up with _his_ girl, not that he considered her _his_ like partner or anything, only to nearly fall right off the pile of iron beams he just landed on in shock of the state of the area, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?" Which of course, got everyone's attention.

"Ah, Impmon, late as always it seems," Myotismon chuckled as he regarded the small Rookie with nothing short of amusement. "Impmon, what's he doing here?" Terriermon asked confused, though he didn't seem very happy with the purple Rookie's appearance. "Not _another_ one!" Kenta complained looking miserable, making Takato chuckle breathlessly.

"Ah, can it, ya overgrow bat-astard!" Impmon shouted in response, not at all afraid of the Ultimate, smirking a little at his pun, whilst Myotismon sighed with a roll of his eyes, his smile yet to falter. Impmon then noticed the shocked look on Karu's face as she seemed to shake as she held a white and purple Digimon he never saw before, who seemed to be concerned for her as he tried to get her attention. Able to sense she still felt distressed, Impmon felt his ears drop as he asked her, "You okay, there, toots?"

Karu was still in too much shock to truly feel angry for the degrading nickname. His shape and color...looked just like...

"Y-You..." Was all she was able to get out before the days events finally caught up to her. Unable to take it anymore, emotionally or mentally, Karu let out a small groan and wobbled, much to Henry and Culumon's concern, "Karu?"

Sensing what was going to happen, Culumon quickly jumped out of her hands and onto the rail as he said in a quick, urgent-tone, "Uh-oh, catch her, she's gonna...!" But his warning came seconds too late as she fell.

"Dark Angel!" Kenta and Takato freaked at seeing her fall, but thankfully Henry caught her before she could hit the floor as Myotismon's eyes widened in surprise. "Karumon!" Guilmon cried in alarm, following the two boys with an equally conflicted Terriermon on his back to check on the female. "Hikarumon!" Culumon cried in worry, quickly gliding down with his ears as Henry settled her against his side. "KID!" Impmon yelled as well, rushing over in a panic.

"Is she okay?" Takato asked worriedly. "I-I...don't know," Henry admitted also concerned, though his questions toward what she did before weighed on his mind. Kenta knelt next to the two and gave a small relief as he noted, "At least she's not convulsing..."

Myotismon, Impmon, Terriermon and Henry's eyes widened as the human and smaller Virus-type asked hesitantly, "Convulsing?"

"When her migraines get to be too much...she starts...convulsing...like a seizure..." Takato spoke up in explanation as he looked at the ground sadly. Seeing his tamer in such a state made Guilmon whine sadly before bumping him gently, gaining Takato's attention a little and the shy tamer hesitantly petted the lizard on the head.

Henry looked down at the girl, who was too out cold to even notice a hurricane, stunned to hear what she had to put up with and winced at a realization. The events of today clearly was too much for her to handle, much less one happening after the other in such quick accession must've been a mental overload. Impmon and Kenta had similar thoughts, berating themselves, Kenta for not realizing it sooner and getting her out of the battlefield, and Impmon for not getting here sooner.

Myotismon noticed the distressed look on Impmon's face and in his posture and raised an eyebrow curiously. Last he heard, the Dark Rookie's last attempt of getting close to a human had ended rather badly, so badly the Rookie had, very verbally, sworn to never try to seek a human partner again. And thus far, Impmon had made good on it, even pranking humans in his attempt to avoid a digivice appearing, so to see this reaction toward a human girl he was clearly knows more on a passing basis was...interesting.

"Why, Impmon, I thought you stopped interacting with humans long ago," Myotismon commented as if discussing the weather, much to the others interest as Impmon jerked in surprise, having forgotten the vampire was there. "And I thought ya gave up being an ass!" Impmon retorted in reflex as he whipped around to glare up at the painfully taller Digimon, fist raised in challenge, "And I ain't concerned about some human chick, ya got that?"

Myotismon just tilted his head innocently as he remarked, "Who said anything about you being...concerned for her?" At realizing the slip, Impmon face-palmed with a loud groan of annoyance.

"Um, Myotismon?" Takato spoke up getting the two's attention, "Why are you even here?" He quickly added with a nervous smile, "Not that no one's grateful, you really saved my hide out there, I mean-!" He stopped when Myotismon held up a gloved hand.

"I was just passing by," The vampire shrugged, "Thought I lend a wing..." He smirked at his own joke, making Impmon roll his eyes, muttering about bastards and such. Takato smiled nervously, while a little put off by the lack of a distinct answer, but was too nervous to say more.

"What happened to Gorillamon?" Kenta finally asked the question that was bugging him since the battle ended, looking around anxiously for any sign of the ape. "Since no one absorbed his data, I'm to assume his data returned to the Digital World," Myotismon answered looking up at the sky where the data had disappeared, "Most likely to be reborn as a Digi-egg in Primary Village."

"Um..." Takato tried to talk. "So, I guess that means he's good as gone then," Kenta assumed, "I mean, he won't come back."

"Excuse me..." Takato started once more, quiet as ever once again. "Who knows," Impmon shrugged carelessly, "You're guess is as good as mine, Four-Eyes." The nickname earned him a pointed glare from both Henry and Kenta.

"Um, hello..." Takato tried once more. "Moumentai!" Terriermon finally said trying to lighten the mood as Culumon rubbed up to Karu sadly, trying to get a response from the human he really liked, but whined when she made none.

"Excuse, but I believe your friend is trying to say something," Myotismon interrupted before either human boy could snap at the rabbit. Everyone looked at the brunette, who eeped at the sudden attention and tried to hide his reddening face in his hoodie as he said in what he hoped was a loud enough voice, "I-I-I was th-thinking...we-we should pr-pro-probably ge-get o-o-o-o-out of here."

Impmon raised an eyebrow, both at Takato's behaviour and the stammering, before looking at Kenta, asking, "What's his problem?" Kenta mouthed 'not now' with a deep, stern frown on his face.

"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea," Henry agreed, grunting softly as he lifted Karu up bridal-style, but smiled when Culumon scurried up to his shoulder, whimpering in concern for the girl, "Where does she live anyway?"

"1135 Hebi Street," Impmon answered almost automatically, "Big two-story buildin', some kinda of gym, weird brown 'n' red paint-job, ya can't miss it." It took a second later that was the wrong thing to say as the brunette and green-haired humans looked at him with frowns.

The brunette spoke up, no longer stuttering, instead, his voice was oddly hardened, "How do you know that?" Impmon chuckled nervously, looking to his superior for help, but imagine his shock to find the vampire gone, which he voiced, looking around, "Where'd he go?"

"No offense, Henry, but I don't think Marcus is going to take to you carrying her in like this very well," Kenta warned wincing along with Takato, remembering the man's protective streak, despite wanting an answer from Impmon.

"I still feel responsible to be there to help explain what happened," Henry said feeling his guilt increase at remembering Gorillamon was after him in the first place, well, technically, he was after Terriermon, but his point still stood and thus he felt responsible for what nearly happened to her and Takato, but upon looking at the Digimon, winced, "Well, as best as possible."

"Yeah, I don't think Marcus would take to the Digimon and all that very well, either," Kenta agreed feeling a headache starting to form as he imagined Marcus' reaction to not only the truth of what just happened, but to actually meeting the creatures responsible, before looking at Culumon, who clearly wasn't going anywhere and seemed to be attached to Karu in some way, "Plus, I don't think he'd by the whole 'stuff-animal' act, sure, Karu's a fan of Digimon, but she hates stuffies."

"What's a stuffie?" Impmon asked as Terriermon walked over to him, most likely making sure he wasn't a threat. "Some kind of thing made of cloth made to look like a Digimon or animal," Terriermon replied making Impmon go cross-eyed in confusion.

"Takatomon, I'm hungry," Guilmon whined bumping his snout against his tamer's leg. "Well, I could run to the bakery and bring some bread, assuming you guys can sneak into Karu's room and hide from her dad," Takato planned, "Though, I'm not sure what we'd do with you Mr..." He trailed off when he realized Myotismon was gone, "Hey, where'd Myotismon go?"

"That's what I asked," Impmon muttered. "Guess he had somewhere he'd had to be," Henry shrugged. "Do you think he has a tamer?" Takato asked curiously, trying what a tamer for Myotismon would be like. "Yeah, right!" Impmon huffed rolling his eyes and looked at Takato like he just said that pigs had wings or the sky was pink, "And I'll digivolve straight into the Mega-level." Takato blushed, the effect of the statement having being evident.

"We better get her home," Kenta said offering to take Karu from Henry, but the blunette shook his head, feeling like he owed her this much, so Kenta didn't push, instead he winced again, "And lets hope Marcus isn't home..."

As they began to leave, Culumon finally spoke up, voice still somehow holding that innocent quality as he asked out of the blue, "Whose Marcusmon?" Making Kenta face-fault as Takato tried to hold in his laughter, but Henry couldn't help letting out his chuckles, feeling his mood lighten. Despite looking at the little Digimon oddly, Impmon couldn't help the smile on his face at the innocence.

"Big guy, brown hair, protective of Karu," Impmon answered, "Not someone ya wanna mess with, believe me."

Kenta looked at him, freaked out, "How do you know that? And why are you evening coming with us?" Henry couldn't stop his laughter even as he looked down at the still out-cold girl in his arms. Something told him his life was going to get much more different...in a very much better way.

* * *

 **And that is that for that chapter! Yeash, that took forever, but worth it all the same! I kinda feel a little bad for Karu, but hey, whatcha gonna do?**

 **Kazu: Man, this stinks, not only am I girl, but the girl me keeps fainting! *smacks with frying pan* OW! Now what I say?**

 **Me: A thinly layered sexist remark, that's what!**

 **Henry: Okay, seriously its not that bad!**

 **Takato: Yeah, scary sure, but at least Impmon gets more lines!**

 **Culumon: Yeah, and I'm in this one more!**

 **Me: And Karu got another ability, sheesh, I hope I'm not over-powering her and Myotismon has made his debute!**

 **Ryo: When am I in this?**

 **Me: When they actually get to the Digi-World.**

 **Kenta: Does anyone else care that this might be a little under-rated? I mean, Karu and Takato nearly got blown up...in the same chapter!**

 **Me: No, it wasn't graphic, so I think it counts under this rating, if I'm wrong, someone would tell me.**

 **Suzie: Yeah, and no one lost a leg or something so that's a plus!**

 **Henry: Suzie!**

 **Suzie: What?**

 **Me: Okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves here! I just want to bring up that I might be switching DemiDevimon with Impmon in the polls for Karu's partner. Let me know what you guys think. Speaking of the polls: Lucemon is in the lead with a solid five, followed by Myotismon with two and LadyDevimon and Ranamon are still tied with one and DemiDevimon still has nothing, nada, zero. But again, I might be switching him, let me know what you guys think.**

 **Well, till then, I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter. Say, bye-bye, Guilmon!**

 **Guilmon: Bye-bye, Guilmon!**

 **Me: That's not what I...oh, never mind!**


End file.
